


Youth

by Rockingham



Category: Choices: High School Story: Class Act (Visual Novel)
Genre: Abuse, Car Accidents, Child Abuse, Dissociation, F/F, Hospitals, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Physical Therapy, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Rehabilitation, Violent Thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-30
Updated: 2020-02-24
Packaged: 2021-02-25 05:15:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 26,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21610702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rockingham/pseuds/Rockingham
Summary: It all started on Halloween night...
Relationships: Skye Crandall/Main Character (High School Story: Class Act)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 56





	1. Shadows Settle On The Place That You Left

Skye's parents were never home for Halloween, giving Brian the chance to throw his annual Halloween party each year. Contrary to popular belief, Skye hated Halloween. Sure, it was the one month her mom backed off about her clothes and Bailey would go see horror movies with her more often but that was it.

It was nice to see Bailey’s scared face more often. The girl was absolutely adorable hiding her face in Skye’s shoulder whenever she was scared. How close the other girl would snuggle into her during the scariest parts of the films. It was easily her favorite part of the season.

That and perhaps Skye had a weakness for Bailey’s baking. The diner always prepared seasonal treats in pumpkin spice or apple cider flavors. Bailey would always let Skye hang out in the diner while she baked, often sneaking her tastes of whatever concoction she was working on. 

Bailey had been excited for the holiday, she refused to tell Skye what her costume would be though, saying it was a surprise.

Brian’s party was already in full swing. Skye could hear the terrible bass pumping through the house behind her. Skye usually got stuck handing out candy to already sugared up kids while Brian's party raged. Her parents still wanted to keep their standing with all the neighboring upper class entitled families so they made sure that candy was handed out to the little ones while Brian threw his party for the older teens and young adults.

And of course the parents were  _ chatty _ . They'd talk Skye's ear off about her family's recent investments and projects or about how wonderful Brian was doing on whatever sports team. And then she'd get the big question:

"What did you do again, dear?"

Skye hated this question. It was like Brian was the highlight of the Crandall house, despite every bad thing he’s done. Despite the baseball incident two years ago, the football thing last season, a few other occasions of harassing girls, and yet despite his bully status at Hearst, nothing seemed to make anyone see past his athletic all star status. 

Maybe they just didn't pay attention.

Then they’d ask her what she did as if they needed to know what significance the small redhead possibly held in the Crandall household. Skye has several answers to this question. None of which are approved by her parents. She'd long to say she summoned demons in the basement or feasts on the souls of children. Just something that would get them to do that awkward parent laugh when they weren’t sure if what someone was saying was supposed to be a joke and finally walk away from her.

"I still play violin."

Which she  _ loathed _ . 

"I'm focusing on academics."

Hers and Brian's it seemed. God forbid the football star do any of his own work.

"I do theatre tech at school."

An answer she only gives to the people who don't regularly speak to her parents. It was usually met with a nod before the parent collected their child and walked away. No one ever asked her more about it. That were more interested in the number of Brian's touchdown passes or how many yards he ran in a game or his batting average. It wasn’t even baseball season yet.

"He bats about 300 on the field, more like a 150 with girls so-"

Brian hit her for that. A well placed smack to the back of her head. She had been so freaking bored the look on the parent's face was beyond worth it. The whack on the back of her head was a reasonable penalty for killing boredom for thirty minutes.

Skye sat on the steps two hours into the party with a chill from the October air. Trick or Treating would end soon and then she could do whatever.

Kids were so picky, Skye thought as she looked over at the bowl of rejected candy that children had pushed aside to get to the “good” candy. Who didn’t like gummy worms? They were a Halloween staple!

“Trick or treat.”

Skye looked up automatically at the usual greeting, surprised when she comes face to face with familiar green eyes and blonde hair. Bailey smiled at her brightly wearing a little black dress paired with dark striped knee socks and glossy black shoes. An oversized black witch’s hat sat on her head. Her blonde hair free of it’s usual ponytail and styled messily about her shoulders. Her makeup darker than usual, dark eyeliner around her eyes and black lipstick matching Skye’s own on her lips.

Skye’s stunned into silence a moment before Bailey moves her arm, pulling something from behind her back and setting it on top of Skye’s head. Skye blinked as the rim fell over her eyes for a minute.

“Has my arrival captured your voice my dear?”

Skye chuckled at the strange voice Bailey used for her character as she pushed the brim of the matching witch’s hat up and more properly on her head.

“You look really good.”

“Really good” was an understatement. The girl looked absolutely stunning in her cute witch costume. Skye felt her face heat up as her eyes wandered over the outfit for a moment before catching the other girl’s dark-lidded eyes.

Bailey beamed at the compliment before leaning down to press a quick kiss to Skye’s lips. She swiped a small baggie of sour gummy worms from the oversized candy bowl as she pulled away and planted herself next to Skye on the steps. 

The theatre group had made plans to visit a haunted house later tonight. One that Micheal and Jordan had recommended. It opened later, after all the trick or treating was over. Micheal had said that last year you could hear people screaming all over the pier.

“I wanted to see my favorite person before we had to meet up with the others.”

Bailey rummaged through the bag for a second before holding up another gummy worm to offer to Skye. Her smile got bigger when Skye threw her a half-hearted eye roll before opening her mouth to accept the candy Bailey fed to her.

Bailey quickly took over most of the interactions with children as they ran up the Crandall driveway in their costumes and excitedly yelled “trick or treat” at the tops of their lungs. Once in a while some of Brian’s friends would hike up the driveway, carrying bags of whatever and would eye Bailey in a way that made Skye want to knock them out where they stood. A few familiar faces from Hearst whose names Skye never could remember had barged in earlier acting like they were the most important people in the world...fitting it seemed. Skye finally lost her patience with a particular group as they made their way up the driveway, half-heartedly trying to cat-call  _ her _ girlfriend. She snarled at the group as she came up to Bailey and made sure they didn’t get too close as they walked by. 

“Why do they all look scared of you?”

“I’m scary.”

Bailey shook her head and pressed a kiss to Skye’s cheek before the sounds of children echoed down the street.

The pattern continued for another hour before the herds of children started to die down, the candy bowl drained of all chocolate and left with whatever gummies and sour candies that children couldn’t appreciate.

Skye didn’t stick around to find out if there were any stragglers after her phone alarm sounded that trick or treating was officially over. She slipped her hand into Bailey’s as they ditched the bowl on the porch of the Crandall house and started down the street towards the Pier.

“So, is there any way I can convince you to skip the haunted house?”

Skye gave a little chuckle as they walked, a few stray trick or treaters finishing up at their last houses.

“Are you scared?”

“...Maybe.”

“There’s nothing to be scared of,” Skye assured as her thumb rubbed against the back of Bailey’s hand, “They’re all actors like you.”

“Yeah, but they’re so much scarier!” Bailey shifted closer to Skye as they got closer to the Pier, her free hand gripping the black sleeve of Skye’s cardigan, “so you’re not allowed to let go of my hand, deal?”   
“Always,” Skye promised as she gave Bailey’s hand a squeeze, “I’ll always protect you.”

Bailey smiled as her hand ran down the soft material of Skye’s cardigan, “this looks really cute on you by the way. I have good taste.”

Bailey had bought her the “Halloween” cardigan she wore, it was a heavier, warm, material in all black with an orange stripe across the torso. It was a present “just because I thought you’d look cute in it” and of course, Skye made ia a point to wear it at least once a week since she got it. It was warm and paired with some of Skye’s other goth accessories looked really good on her.

Bailey preened a little more at her good clothing decision as they walked. Usually Skye helped her pick things out, this was one of the first things that Bailey found that she knew Skye would look good in, and would want to wear. It was a more casual look then her normal outfits, but Skye liked to lounge around with Bailey in it.

Also it fit, and being a more petite size meant clothes shopping could be a pain in the neck.

The rest of the theatre group is already waiting for them when Skye and Bailey walked up. Ajay seemed to be the only one not in some kind of costume. The rest of the theatre club seemed to have raided the prop room for their costumes. Rory stood rocking their knight outfit from the  _ Enchanted Kingdom _ production while Clint and Natalie were dressed in their outfits from  _ The Tempest _ . Skye had almost forgotten about the hat on her head before Natalie pointed out how cute the two looked.

“Ajay’s dressed up like a sleep deprived zombie this year,” Rory offered as they made a grand gesture to Ajay, “look at how stiff he moves, his eyes unseeing-”

“We get it! I don’t sleep.”

The group continues to bicker and laugh as they wait in line. As they draw closer, the screams of the people inside get louder and louder. Skye feels Bailey press herself closer to her side. Skye smiles as she moves her hand from where it had been captured by Bailey’s to wrap around Bailey’s waist, pulling her close. 

“You okay?”

“Yup, no going back now!” 

Bailey faux bravery lasted a few seconds until someone from inside the darkened walls screamed, then she jumped a bit before pressing herself as close to Skye as she could get.

“You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” Skye offers after a minute, moving her hand to rub at Bailey’s back, “besides, I’m pretty sure Natalie and Clint need reasons not to go in too.”

Bailey thought on it for a few seconds. She seemed a little conflicted until a small smile came to her face and she moved her arm to rest it over Skye’s shoulders.

“You won’t be upset that you can’t see my freaked out face?”

“I can scare you some other time.”

Bailey laughed a bit and leaned over to press a kiss to Skye’s lips.

“Thank you, but I think I’m going to brave it this time.”

Bailey doesn’t even loosen her grip on Skye’s hand as they walk into the dark house. The main tunnel is dimly lit with torches propped on the walls. They’re greeted by the sounds of dripping and dragging of chains as their footsteps echo down the narrow hall.

The first jump scare came in the form of something cold and damp pressing against the very back of Bailey’s neck.

There wasn’t a quicker “nope” in her life. She darted forward with a scream, pulling Skye with her down the hall until they almost rear-ended Clint and Graham in front of them. Clint jumps as they approach while Graham’s reaction is a bit delayed, distracted by something in the corner.

“Don’t do that!” Clint yelled as he recovered from the shock of being rushed.

“Did you guys see any of the animatronics they’re using for some of the jump scares? They’re so cool! They look so real,”

“No one said the actors could touch you,” Bailey whimpered as she turned to Skye, the other girl looked equally surprised by that.

“I guess some haunted houses do that.”

Bailey let out another pathetic whimper as she pulled Skye impossibly closer. The group slowly walked down the hallway as the lights overhead flicker. They walk through a room with a single coffin sitting at the center of the room surrounded by bones.

“A little cliche,” Skye commented as the lid of the coffin shook. A deep raspy groan echoed through the room as lid swung on rusted hinges, a gore covered creature rose from what appeared to be a coffin filled with blood. The figure just barely resembled a girl with long hair. Her hair pulled away from the blood with a sickening sound.

“Not a fun room, not a fun room!” 

They quickly scuddle towards a red-hit area where a girl lays on a table surrounded by fake blood and guts, screaming bloody murder as several actors sit around her, pulling out the organs and devoring them with interest. The actors were dressed in cult-like dark robes and possesed unsettlingly long nails as they dug into the pile of guts before them.

One of the figured turned on them when they entered. His face was covered in blood, teeth stained red as he raised a hand at them.

“Fresh meat.”

His voice was no louder than a growl as he limped closer, goopy blood dripped off his long nails as he reached for them. 

“T-This way!” 

Clint lead them down a more narrow hallway. They scramble down the dark doorway until the screams of the girl in the other room were muffled. Clint and Bailey were audibly panting as they tried to calm down from the last scare.

“Are you okay?” Skye asked softly as Bailey’s nails dug into her arm. The blonde trembled as they walked, tremors shaking her body as they continued down the hall.

Bailey gave her girlfriend a very unconvincing nod. Surely they couldn’t have much more to go. As they walked they could barely hear sniffling. The faint crying got a little louder before Bailey noticed what looked like a young girl curled in on herself against the wall.

“She’s gone,” the voice of a little girl cried, “I can’t find my mommy.”

The girl was dressed in some kind of dark costume, a hood pulled up over her head. Bailey dropped her guard a little, she felt bad for the little girl who must have gotten lost when her parents brought her through the house. Graham has already taken the initiative and walked a few steps closer.

“Hey, are you lost?”

The little girl let out a sob.

“She’s gone, I can’t find my mommy.”

Bailey felt her grip loosen on Skye’s arm. She felt bad for this little girl who had somehow gotten lost in the large haunted house. Bailey took a few tentative steps forward, meeting Graham at the front of the group.

“How about you come with us, we can find you mommy once we get to the end of the house. She’s probably waiting for you there.”

“She’s gone”

Bailey and Graham shared a look for a moment before looking back at the girl.

“We can help you look for her,” Graham offered with a smile as he reached down to offer the little girl his hand.

“She’s gone. She’s gone. She’s gone. She’s gone. She’s gone. She’s gone. She’s-”

The head of the little girl turned slowly until her head was almost completely backwards on her body. The face was doll like, her eye sockets empty and blood running down her face.

“I can’t find my mommy.”

The lights lit up like lightning around them. The group made the horrible mistake at looking up when they noticed a strange shadow cast on the walls. An old woman crawled across the ceiling, neck twisting at unusual angles and a horrible shrill leaving her mouth.

The noise was drowned out by Bailey’s screaming as the four dashed to the exit door.

“Is it over?” Bailey asked as they burst through the door, the wind against her hair.

“Yeah, we’re out now,” Skye assured as she re-threaded her fingers through her girlfriends, walking past the exit door and back towards the brighter lights of the pier, “thanks for letting me see your freaked out face, it’s adorable.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it,” Bailey smiled as she took a breath, her body trembling less than before as the calm October breeze picked up around them. Soon the rest of their friend group joined them and they finished their walk throughs of the house. They talked animatedly about the house and different frights as they passed through the line of game booths, all decked out for Halloween.

“You guys know most of these games are rigged right?” Ajay asked with a raised eyebrow as Rory tried and failed to knock over some milk bottles on a pedestal. 

“Party pooper,”

“Usually they’re a very exact way to win, they have to make them winnable or no one would play,” Graham added, “It takes a good deal of luck.”

The group traveled down the Pier taking in the lights and decorations as they walked. Bailey felt the air get colder around her. Her skin chilled against the wind as her costume did little to protect her from the cold.

As she rubbed at her arms in an attempt to defend herself against the chill, she felt something being draped around her shoulders. She smiled as her girlfriend as she snuggled into the fabric, pulling her arms through the soft sleeves. The trace of Skye’s rose scented shampoo clung to the soft material and wrapped her in a feeling of safety.

“What about you?”

“I’ll be good, I can’t have you freezing on me.”

Bailey smiled as she leaned forward to let her forehead rest against Skye’s.

“Such a charmer,”

Skye smiles and tugged Bailey closer to a more secluded part of the pier, just behind one of the game booths.

“It’s kinda dark over here,” Bailey pointed out with a grin quickly forming on her face, “are you trying to scare me again?”

“Hmmm, a good idea, but not what I had in mind.”’

Bailey let out a short laugh as her back hit the side of the booth a minute before Skye’s lips met hers in a warm kiss. Bailey sighed into the kiss, her hands quickly moving to frame Skye’s face, pulling her closer. Bailey felt Skye’s arms wrap around her, trapping her in a tight embrace and taking away the autumnal chill. 

“They’re going to notice we disappeared,” Bailey whispered in the air between slow kisses. She feels the warmth spread through her with every firm press of Skye’s lips against hers. Her fingers slipped through Skye’s hair as she tilts her head to deepen the kisses,

“Don’t care.”

Bailey smiled as Skye recaptured her lips in a more demanding kiss. Bailey let out a happy sigh into the kiss as her fingers ran through Skye’s soft hair before she heard the noise of a phone vibrating. She pulls away from Skye for a second to pat her pockets, thinking maybe their group of friends had moved on without them and had noticed them gone.

“It’s mine,” Skye sighed as she pulled her cell from her pocket, frowning at the name before swiping the ignore call icon, “it’s nothing.”

“You sure?”

“It was Brian, he probably just butt dialed me.”

Skye’s phone lit up again before she could put it back in her pocket. She stared at the offending device for a few seconds. She swiped the icon to ignore the call again and kept skill, waiting to see if the device would light up again. Within thirty seconds Brian’s name flashed across the screen again. Skye let out an annoyed sigh as Bailey gave her a sympathetic look. Bailey wrapped her arms around Skye’s shoulders and pulled her closer, trying to at least eliminate some of the phone anxiety as Skye begrudgingly swiped the answer call icon.

She didn’t get a single word out.

“Where are you?!”

Brian’s voice boomed through the speaker. It was loud enough to force Skye to move the device away from her face.

“Out, why?”

“You need to come back now!”

“Do I?”

“Don’t be a smart ass! Where. Are. You?”

Skye gave an annoyed groan.

“Why?”

“I blew a fuse and I need  _ you _ to go down into the basement and flip the thing.”

“...You have a house full of people and not one person there can ‘flip the thing’ for the fuse?”

Bailey just barely heard another voice yell in the back about being drunk.

“Hey, I’m not letting any of my bros go down there and risk getting electrocuted, that’s what you’re for.”

Skye let out a monotone hum.

“Just...Tell me where you are and I’ll come get you. Then you can go do whatever the hell you want. I’ll even put in a good word for you with mom and dad.”

“Yeah right”

“How about this, if you don’t do this for me, I’ll make sure mom and dad know you ditched on trick or treat duty.”

Skye’s face flashed in annoyance. Bailey could feel the tension increase in the girl’s shoulders.

“Fine. I’m at the Pier.”

“Got it, I’ll be there in ten.”

The line went dead and Skye let out an exaggerated noise. She shoved her phone in her pocket and leaned against Bailey, pressing her face into her neck while Bailey rubbed her back sympathetically.

“Sorry,”

“It’s not your fault,” Bailey assured as she snuggled into Skye more, “do you want me to come with you?”

“No, I’ll be quick. It doesn’t take long to fix the breaker then I come back.”

Skye pulled away after a few moments as the two started over to the entrance of the pier. As soon as they pass the flashing lights of the sign, a very expensive looking car screeched to a halt a few feet away. The passenger side window opens and Brian’s annoyed voice greeted them.

“Come on! You can play with your girl-toy later!”

Skye grit her teeth in rage as she glared at her brother.

“I’ll text you when I’m done.”

“Yeah! I can send Rory or Ajay to come get you!”

Skye smiled for a second before Brian honked at them, yelling at Skye to hurry up and that he had a party he wanted to get back to. Skye rolled her eyes and kissed Bailey on the cheek.

“Go have fun, I’ll text you.”

“Okay.”

Skye jumped into the car before Brian could honk or yell at them again. The tires of the car screeched loudly as he pulled away from the pier at high speed.

Bailey watched them go before turning back to the pier. She might as well go find the rest of the group while she waited for Skye to get done and come back. It took her awhile to track them down, Erin being the first to notice her approach.

“ _ There _ you are, where’s Skye?”

“Her brother heckled her to go home for a while so she could fix something for him. She said she’d text when she was done.”

“Hey Bailey! Come play with me while we wait!” Rory called as they pulled a few dollars out of their pocket to hand to the man at the booth. Ajay just stood close, shaking his head.

“What are you playing?”

“You gotta throw the ball into one of the colored milk bottles,” Rory explained as the booth attendant placed three balls in front of them, “I’m going to show off my new basketball skills Casey taught me.”

Casey gave a chuckle from his spot next to Erin.

“How about we make it a contest, I’ll play with you! Let’s see who can get the bigger prize.”

“You’re on! Bailey, come play with us!”

Casey took a seat, placing a few dollars on the counter and waiting for the attendant. Ajay shook his head again and looked over the booth.

“What are those anyway?”

“They’re gloomy bears,” Erin smiled as Bailey looked up to examine the prizes, the shelves were covered with various sized stuffed bears all fitted with large plastic claws and looked to be drooling blood with various blood splatter markings, “I remember them from my anime phase in middle school. It’s a cute version of a blood thirsty grizzly bear with a taste for human flesh, perfect for Halloween.”

“That would give Mohit nightmares.”

“...They’re kinda cute though,” Bailey offered with a smile as she fished into her pocket for a few loose dollars. Ajay chuckled.

“You’ve been dating Skye too long.”

“I haven’t been dating Skye long enough!” 

Bailey slammed her money on the counter as the unenthusiastic booth worker sighed and set her up as well.

“Alright folks, here’s how it goes, gold milk bottles are the largest prizes, that’s the three foot tall bear, blue stripes are the twenty-four inch bears, red stripes are twelve inch bears, green stripes are six inch bears, plain silver bottles are no winners. Have fun.”

Rory is the first to line up their show, over-exaggeratedly lets out a battle cry before the ball flies through the air, it bounced off the red striped bottle, off a silver, and landed onto the floor.

Casey took an equally exaggerated shot, the ball bounced off the rim of the gold bottle and flew sideways into the wall of the booth.

“Heh, this is just as tricky as I remember,” Casey chuckled as Ajay muttered “rigged” under his breath.

Bailey thought for a second before throwing her ball in a light underhand motion, the ball bounces off the rim of one of the silver bottles and lands inside one of the other silvers.

“Nice shot, too bad it’s not a winning bottle,” 

“Yeah, but I still got one in before you two. I’m taking that as a personal victory.”

“Oh, well now I gotta get one in, just so you don’t get a big head!”

Another round of failed throws and the trio look at their final shots. Rory’s and Casey’s bounce off the bottles. Bailey stares intently at the setup, final shot in hand.

“Avenge us,” Rory cheers as Bailey took a breath and tossed the softball over to the bottles. She tossed it high and watches as it clatters down, landing square inside one of the green-stripped bottles.

“You’re avenged!” Bailey cheers as the group joined in. The attendant look unamused before gesturing towards the six-inch bears.

“What color?”

“Black, please,” Bailey smiled brightly as the attendant pulled a new bear from the boxes under the booth, pulling it from the plastic before he handed it over to Bailey. She took the gruesomely adorable bear into her arms and chipped a “Thank you!”

Bailey holds the bear close to her chest as they walk away,

“A gift for thy fair maiden?” Rory teases as they walk away, Bailey blushes.

“My fair maiden has added to my fuzzy minion army on several occasions, this is a gruesome thank you.”

“She’ll love it,” Erin grinned, “It’s very Skye.”

It was also nice and small, perfect for fitting with Skye’s horror movie DVD stash under her bed where her mother will never know it exists. The group laughed and moved from booth to booth. Casey quick won Erin an adorable dragon plush from another game and Rory had managed to win a giant turtle from the ring toss game that Ajay swore was unwinnable. 

Bailey checked her phone, not seeing any text from Skye. It had been almost an hour now and there was no word from her. Bailey shot a quick text to Skye as they walked through the food vendors. Casey had been craving something fried and unhealthy.

“I wonder what’s keeping Skye,” Ajay muttered as they found a table to sit at while Casey and Erin got food.

“I just sent her a message, she hasn’t gotten back to me.”

A bit of worry settles over the group.

“Why don’t we go check on her? After we eat we can drive over to the Crandall Mansion,” Rory offers. The three agree and fill Casey and Erin in on the plan when they come back with funnel cake and fried oreos.

Rory and Ajay decide to both drive over, that way they can go to the Golden Grill after they get Skye and enjoy some late night treats and take in a horror movie before the end of the night. Erin, Natalie and Casey hop in with Rory while Bailey, Clint, and Graham hop in Ajay’s car.

Ajay’s car lead as they traveled the short distance to the street Skye lived on. They came up to the turn only to see the street closed, police directing people away.

“I wonder what happened,” Ajay muttered as he drove farther towards the twins house, “That’s a cul-de-sac, there’s no other way in.”

“Maybe that’s what’s keeping Skye?” Clint offered, “Maybe since they have the road closed she can’t get out.”

Ajay turned down the street where the twins lived as he thought. As they pull up towards the Jenkins household, Bailey noticed her parents outside with Mr. and Mrs. Silva.

“What’s going on?”

Ajay pulled the car over on the side as Mr. Silva waved them down. Rory’s car parked behind them as the group started to pile out. Bailey looked on as the group of adults stopped whispering among themselves and started towards the group.

“What’s going on?” Rory is the first to vocally say something, Mrs. Silva placed a hand on their shoulder.

“Let’s all go inside and talk.”

They’re all herded into the house, the adults’ stoic faces were unnerving as the front door closes and they are all directed to sit down.

“There was an accident,” Mrs. Silva is the first to speak, “we don’t know much about what happened, but the Crandall’s car was one of the ones involved.”

The sentence made Bailey go completely numb. She couldn’t hear the chatter of her friends, she couldn’t hear anything else. Frosty sat at her feet, looking up at her as if he understood what was going on.

“We don’t know how bad it was, but we can take a drive to the hospital tomorrow and see if anyone will tell us anything,” Bailey felt her mother say as a hand rested on her shoulder, “I can’t promise we’ll find anything out, but we know how important Skye is to all of you. If there is a way, we’ll find it.”

Bailey doesn’t remember anything of what else is said, Rory offered to stay the night so they could all go to the hospital tomorrow morning. Ajay was going to crash on the couch, he called his mom and told her what was going on. Casey offered him some clothes to sleep in for tonight.

Bailey could only sit in shock. She closed her eyes, hoping it was all a dream.

She was greeted by the scent of roses.

Skye’s cardigan.

Bailey wrapped her arms around herself, trying to surround herself in the other girl’s presence.

It was the only thing she could do to stop the tears that were threatening to fall.

She was going to be okay.

She was going to be okay.

_______________________________

Bailey doesn’t sleep that night, she doesn’t take of Skye’s cardigan and holds the gloomy bear she had won for Skye throughout the night. No one seemed hungry at breakfast. Natalie, Graham, and Clint had gone home, they offered to help any way they could, but a smaller group might go over well with the hospital staff. 

The hospital is quiet, the lobby was filled with people waiting, some patiently reading a magazine or book while others tapped their feet and glanced at their watches. Mrs. Silva said something about knowing the lady at the front desk before breaking away from the group to go talk to her.

“How are you holding up?” Casey asked from her side. Bailey could only shrug. She didn’t know. It was like the news hadn’t really hit her yet. 

Mrs. Silva comes back with a grim look.

“She’s in the ICU,” Mrs. Silva announced, “They might not let us in to see her, but Clara said we can see if they’ll update us on her condition.”

Mrs. Silva leads the way past white halls and rooms. The sounds of patients coughing or sneezing rings out. Nurses scatter across the floors as they walk through halls. Family members talking to patients, sometimes laughing, others crying.

The ICU was its own floor. The lobby was filled with anxiety ridden people waiting on loved ones in the adjacent operating room. There was a screen with names of people who were currently in surgery. Mrs. Silva led the group to the front desk were a younger nurse was stationed.

“Excuse me, we’re looking for Skye Crandall.”

The name caused the girl to raise an eyebrow.

“I’m sorry, but she’s currently in the ICU, we can’t allow this many visitors without parental consent.”

“Can you at least tell us how she’s doing?” Mrs. Jenkins asked, 

“I’m sorry, but I-”

“Tiffany, good to see you dear,” Mrs. Silva quickly switched people as a young nurse walked out of the ICU. She smiled when she saw Mrs. Silva.

“Brenda, I didn’t think I’d see you here willingly.”

“Well, I certainly am not too glad to be here, you see on of Rory’s friends was in a car accident last night, we were looking to see if someone could tell us how she’s doing.”

Tiffany’s smile faded for a moment,

“Why don’t you come with me and I can fill you in.”

The group followed Tiffany to a more secluded part of the lobby before pulling open and door and lead them inside. The room was empty except for some chairs. For some reason, that made Bailey’s heart-rate skyrocket. Panic started to set in and she could only hope that the nurse told them something that didn’t make her want to scream.

“The police are involved, so I can’t give you a lot of details on the accident itself,” Tiffany explains, “Miss Crandall-”

“Skye,”

Bailey didn’t know why, but it was important to her that this nurse called Skye by her name. Tiffany’s face softened.

“Skye is currently in a medically induced coma. She came in with some extensive injuries, including a nasty hit to the head. She’s suffering from several cracked ribs, a dislocated shoulder, several lacerations, heavy bruising to the ribs and her knee shattered in the impact.”

“Jesus,”

“The doctors have already put her through surgery for her knee and her shoulder was relocated. Our biggest worry is the head injury. The doctors are coming to check in on her later to check on swelling.”

“What about Brian?”

If he got off easy-

“He’s in much worse shape,” Tiffany frowned. “The doctors believe they can start waking Skye up from the coma within a few days if all goes well. She’s not out of the woods yet, but we’re optimistic after seeing her numbers for today. Brian will have to stay in a coma for at least a week.”

Bailey looked down as the nurse continued, pulling at the sleeves of the cardigan still wrapped around her like a safety blanket. Everything felt like a bad dream. Like she would wake up and Skye would tease her for falling asleep in the greenhouse or in the comfy chairs in the theatre room.

“Is there any way we could see her?” 

Bailey’s eyes snap up at the mention of seeing Skye. The nurse however, gave them a sympathetic look.

“We really can’t have that many people in the room. The nurse assigned to her still has to keep a sharp eye on her in case anything changes. I understand you’re all worried, but I don't think seeing her now would make you feel better about her condition. It can be extremely upsetting to see someone hooked up to all the medical machinery.”

Bailey looked back down, fiddling with the ends of the sleeves for something to do. She felt herself fighting back tears. She felt a weird numbness settled in her bones, words exchanged back and forth but she heard none of them.

She only moved when she felt her mother’s hand on her shoulder. They exchanged goodbyes with the nurse and before Bailey knew it she was standing back in her room. She gathered the gloomy bear and the pink teddy bear Skye won her at the arcade and laid on her bed, the two bears pulled tightly against her chest.

She tried to ignore how tight her chest felt, how tears gathered at the back of her eyelids and the dull headache that was quickly forming at the back of her head. Bailey heard footsteps on the stairs a few minutes later, her bedroom door slowly opened as her mother took a few steps in.

“Are you hungry dear? You haven’t eaten much all day.” Bailey felt the mattress dip as her mother sat on the edge as she spoke to her, “I’m so sorry dear, I wish there was something I could do. We can try again tomorrow to see if Skye’s getting better.”

“What if she’s not?” 

Bailey’s voice came out as barely a whimper. Her mother leaned over and rubbed her back as Bailey felt hot tears threaten to fall down her face. No one was promising her that Skye would be okay. Everything was a “maybe” or “if”. 

“Bailey, you can’t think that way. Skye made it through one night, that’s the hardest, and the nurse said her odds were good. You need to focus on those things. Skye cares about you a lot dear, she isn’t going to give up without a fight.”

Bailey wanted the words to be more comforting than they were. 


	2. Our Minds Are Troubled By The Emptiness

Mrs. Jenkins doesn’t force Bailey to go to school the next day. Instead they wait in the hospital lobby, just outside the ICU. Bailey scrolled through her phone, seeing all kinds of articles about the accident. 

**_Halloween Crash Results In 6 Injured, 3 In Critical Condition. -_ ** _ 1 day ago _

**_74 Year Old Dies From Injuries Due To Car Crash -_ ** _ 16 hours ago _

**_Police Believe Alcohol May Be To Blame For Halloween Pile Up -_ ** _ 20 hours ago _

Most of the articles include pictures of smashed up cars, the expensive silver car Brian had picked Skye up in was completely bashed in on one side from what the photos showed, the back of the car looked like it had been hit as well.

Her mother tried to urge her from looking at those articles, but no one else was telling her what had happened. From what the articles told her, Brian’s car ran a red light, was T-Boned by another car, and then rear-ended by the car behind them. The car behind them had a driver whose blood alcohol level was over the legal limit. Some reports also seemed to believe Brian was intoxicated as well, however his blood alcohol level wasn’t released in any of the articles.

Her mother comes back from talking to the head nurse, there was no way around it, they needed one of the Crandalls’ permission to visit with Skye. 

So they waited. It was Brenda’s idea, if they waited and asked them, they might be worn down enough to say yes. Bailey just… hoped it was Skye’s mother who walked out and not her father. Her father wouldn’t be persuaded, but her mother might be.

After almost two hours of waiting, they’re graced with a flash of red as Mrs. Crandall walks out of the ICU chasing after a younger woman with reddish auburn hair arguing in a hushed tone.

“ _ I’ve had enough, you expect me to wave a magic wand and make this shit disappear? _ ” The young woman growled as Mrs. Crandall chased after her. Bailey stood as she watched them head towards the elevators, without thinking she fast walked over to them despite her mother’s worried look. In a normal situation, Bailey might have waiting for them to come back up, or read that they were arguing and not have rushed over as quickly as she did. But today, there was only one person on her mind, and she really didn’t care what the two were arguing about.

“ _ They are talking about arresting Brian, you need to do something _ .”

_ “I have been covering shit up for that boy for almost two years now! You should have taught him to not do dumb ass shit _ ”

“ _ Well, I’d never- _ ”

“Excuse me-” Bailey interrupted as the two women turned to her. Mrs. Crandall’s expression immediately, somehow, got even more angry. The other woman looked a bit confused, maybe a little impressed.

“Of course  _ you’re _ here. I have no time to deal with you, get lost.”

“Who’s this?” The younger woman asked as Mrs. Crandall tried to wave the question off.

“That doesn’t matter, we’re talking about Brian-”

“What’s your name kid?”

“Bailey,” Bailey started before quickly adding, “I’m...a friend of Skye’s.”

Bailey really couldn’t remember at that moment if Skye had ever told her parents if they were dating. Skye never told her parents any intimate details of her life and Bailey was sure if she had, her parents would have had a more… open door policy when it came to Bailey coming over.

“Oh, you’re one of Skye’s friends. What can we do for you?” The auburned hair woman asked as she adjusted her expensive looking glasses. Bailey then realized that she didn’t really look at the woman before. She was probably in her late twenties- early thirties at the oldest. She wore an expensive looking jacket and blazer combo with an expensive looking blue silk dress shirt. The pale skin and dark blue eyes almost confirmed Bailey’s suspicious that this woman was a relative of Skye's.

“We don’t need to waste our time with-”

“You’ve wasted my time today, I want to know what she wants.”

“I want to know if I can see Skye.”

Mrs. Crandall gave her a nasty look like the young woman next to her seemed to think it over.

“Well, I don’t really have an issue with it as long as you follow all the rules. Hand sanitizer or wash your hands as soon as you get into the room. Because of the medically induced coma, her immune system is shot, so as long as you aren’t a danger to her health I don’t see a problem, do you Aunt Alice?”

“I don’t care,” Mrs. Crandall said through clenched teeth.

“Great. Here, kid, just in case you have an issue,” the girl handed Bailey a business card. 

_ Audrey Crandall _ __   
_ Attorney at Law _ _   
_ __ Crandall Law Offices LLC

The words were written out in beautiful script and sophisticated sans-serif. Contact information was listed on the card with the name and the Crandall Law Offices logo.

“If I do hear that Skye’s gotten sick because of any introduced bacteria, you’ll be on the wrong of the court, got it?”

“Got it!” Bailey squeaked as Audrey smirked and turned back to Mrs. Crandall.

“Now I believe you were trying to bribe me with coffee. Let me chat with the head nurse real quick and get this young lady on her way.”

The young lawyer, Bailey assumed, flashed Mrs. Crandall a wolfish smile as the older woman sighed as if that was the most inconvenient thing in the world.

Bailey didn’t stick around as Audrey walked off towards the head nurse. Bailey sees her mother’s eyebrows raise before she stood up and followed Bailey and the younger woman over. Audrey spent a few minutes talking to the head nurse, telling them that Bailey could go see Skye while Mrs. Crandall and her talked business downstairs.

The nurse looked over at Bailey and nodded. 

"Now, keep an eye on my baby cousin, you hear?" Audrey's voice stayed stern before she went back towards Mrs. Crandall who was rapidly tapping her foot.

The head nurse goes over all the rules, and there were a lot of them. Bailey listened intently as the nurse swiped her card to unlock the large doors that separated the ICU from the general patient rooms.

Skye's room was the least occupied, save for a nurse stationed at a computer near the doorway watching over her vitals. He looked up when Bailey and her mother entered, clearly a bit confused before flashing a smile.

Bailey remembered Audrey's warning as it was reinforced by the nurse posted in Skye's room.

"Bathroom's in the corner, we also have hand sanitizer here. I'm pretty sure Mrs. Verma already went over everything?"

Mrs. Jenkins held back for a few moments to ask about Skye's condition while Bailey washed her hands as instructed. Taking good measure to thoroughly clean then before leaving the small room.

Her mother is still talking with the nurse as he explains what they have been monitoring with Skye while Bailey walked over to the edge of the bed. There was something very unsettling about seeing someone being kept alive by medical equipment. Skye’s already small body was completely dwarfed by the amount of monitors and sensors around her. A clear plastic tube ran down her throat, controlling the air that went in and out of her lungs. Her chest rose and fell in perfect sync with the sounds of the machine.

There’s a crisp white sterile bandage tapped against the side of her forehead, Bailey notices other gauze wrapped around her forearms. The sterile white material almost bled into the unnaturally pale tone of Skye’s skin. Bailey raised her hand lightly as it hovered over Skye’s, she was so afraid of touching her in case she hurt her. The other girl looked so fragile laying on the hospital bed. Bailey worried that she’d somehow hurt her more.

As Bailey’s fingertips brushed the back of Skye’s hand she instantly felt something inside her crack at the coldness of Skye’s skin. 

The girl was usually so warm. 

It felt like Skye wasn’t there. Even if her body lay motionless, kept alive by machines, it didn’t feel like Skye was here. Bailey felt her hand fully clasp against Skye’s, she wanted so desperately to return warmth to it. Skye didn’t move at all to the touch and Bailey feels her eyes burn.

It was like the girl was already dead.

Bailey didn’t know what to do. She wanted to hold Skye’s hand tightly but she didn’t want to hurt her. She wanted to see Skye give any indication that she was still there. A flinch, a shift, anything.

Bailey felt herself tremble before her mother pulled her into a hug. Tears fell more freely down her face and she felt herself come undone in the warm embrace. 

“I’m sorry,” her mother offers as Bailey turned her head to bury her face in her mother’s shoulder. “I know.”

***

Bailey needed to stay busy. 

She needed reasons to not think about anything until the end of the school day when she could go see Skye at the hospital. Maybe Rory and Ajay would come with her today. She had tasked herself with some smaller projects to distract her, to focus her on something other then her girlfriend’s frail body on a white hospital bed. 

Today Bailey had washed a blanket that she wanted to bring for Skye. The paper-thin hospital sheets didn’t seem to keep her warm enough. It was something small, but thinking about helping Skye keep warm kept her mind off the otherwise lifeless appearance that haunted her a bit more then she’d like to admit.

They stopped at the Jenkins house to pick up a few things, mostly the blanket that Bailey was drying now. It only needed a few more minutes. 

Bailey looked over to the pile of laundry that her mother had folded earlier. She looked through a pile of her clothes, she took hers off the pile and stacked them in her arms to bring to her room. It felt normal enough until she reached a very familiar black cardigan.

In the wash.

Bailey panicked. She felt her breathing get shallow as she dropped the clothes in her arm and pulled the folded garment out of the basket and held it close to her face.

It smelled just like the fabric softener her mother used.

The rose smell was completely gone.

Bailey felt her fingers wrap tightly around the fabric, staring at it as if it would return back to normal. The dryer beeped that it was done, but Bailey didn’t move. She stared at the black and orange material wrapped around her hands. 

“Hey, are we ready to-” Ajay stopped when he turned the corner and saw Bailey standing there with a lifeless expression, holding the cardigan like it provided the air around her, “Are you okay?”

Bailey only looked up briefly before she looked back down at the garment.

“It’s gone.”

Ajay looked confused for a moment before he realized that the cardigan was Skye’s. He reached over and rested a hand on Bailey’s shoulder.

“It’s okay, you were probably going to wash it before you gave it back to her anyway.”

“But-” Bailey held the soft material closer to her chest, her eyes start to burn and Ajay patted her on the back in what was an Ajay-level attempt at comforting someone. 

“She’s going to be okay. She’s not allowed to leave me to deal with all of you before I graduate. Come on, let’s get this stuff to Skye.”

Ajay grabbed the blanket out of the dryer and folded it before he turned back to Bailey. The girl sniffled and went to follow as they walked over to meet Rory and Casey.

“Come on, Skye hates when you cry.”

***

Skye’s hospital room smelled like coffee. The reason was sitting on one of the uncomfortable chairs going through files and sipping hospital coffee when the theatre trio walked in.

“You’re back, kid?” Audrey asked as she shoved the papers back in their folders and into her briefcase.

“Oh, hi, are we interrupting?” Bailey asked before she turned to Ajay and Rory, who were looking at the other occupant of the room in confusion, “This is Audrey, we met yesterday and she gave me permission to come see Skye. She’s…”

Bailey trailed off, not being able to remember her relation to Skye.

“I’m her cousin,” Audrey offered gesturing to Skye as she stood up, “I should be leaving anyway, I’m sure I see you around.”

The nurse in charge of Skye today was a younger blonde nurse. She nodded at Audrey when the lawyer pasted and turned down the hall. She flashed the others a smile to the new visitors with a polite reminder of their sanitary rules. After a quick round of washing hands, the three settle into the room. Bailey pulled the blanket out of her bag and turned to rest it across Skye’s legs over the thin hospital blanket.

“How is she doing?” Rory asked as Ajay took a seat on one of the hospital chairs out of the way of all the machines around Skye.

“She’s doing very well considering. The morning nurse did the cognition test and she did well in that, so the doctor isn’t too concerned about brain damage.”

“What does that mean in terms of her coming out of the coma?” 

“The doctor’s thinking we do another test tonight and go from there. We didn’t put her fully back under and she’s been fine so that’s always a good sign.”

“What does that mean?” Bailey asked as she rested her hand on top of Skye’s. She’s more than a little surprised when she feels the girl’s hand shift lightly underneath her.

“You don’t wake someone up from a coma all at once. You have to gradually shift them off the medication that keeps them in the coma, meaning they become a little more coherent and aware of what’s going on around them. We do what’s called a cognitive test once we take them off the medication enough for them to be able to follow basic commands. Usually we ask them to move their arms or legs to see if everything’s functioning in a neurological sense.”

The nurse walked over to the opposite side of Skye’s bed. 

“It’s like a middle ground between them being conscious and being comatose. She can hear you all here and will probably react to the noise, but she won’t remember anything once she’s awake. The brain is running on very basic programming in this state.”

“That’s kinda interesting,” Ajay mumbled as he digested what the nurse said, “So we if start talking she can hear us?”

“Yes, but won’t remember it later.”

“Dangerous,” Rory offered a weak joke to the heavy air. “Anyone have anything they’d like to admit?”

“I admit it was Rory who broke the wooden soapbox we were using for the  _ Rent _ set.”

“Ajay! You have to confess something  _ you’ve _ done.”

Bailey turned to Skye as the nurse checked her vitals and Ajay and Rory started bickering quietly back and forth. She swore she saw Skye’s eyes roll behind closed eyelids. Bailey moved her hand over Skye’s, feeling the other girl’s lazy delayed reaction to her touch. 

Why did it not feel better?

Bailey wrapped Skye’s hand in her own, the other girl’s hand twitched slightly at the movement.

“Do you want me to leave the room for a minute? So you can talk to her?”

That’s what was bothering her.

In the end, this wasn’t her Skye.

Not really.

It was the same feeling of her being there but not  _ there _ . Not in the way Bailey needed her. Not in the way where Bailey could hear her voice or see her smile. The girl on the bed merely held Skye’s body, but it didn’t feel like Skye was in it. Bailey was sure there were plenty of people in her situation that might have been comforted by the ability to talk to their loved ones. But in the end, the things Bailey wanted to say to Skye were followed by what she wanted to hear from Skye.

She wanted Skye to tell her she was overreacting.

She wanted Skye to tell her that she was okay, and that Bailey didn’t have to be so sad about everything.

She wanted Skye’s sarcastic comments and teasing remarks. She wanted Skye’s smile and to hear her laugh. Everything that make Skye the girl that Bailey had fallen in love with…

The girl that Bailey never got to say I love you to.

The girl who had captured Bailey’s heart so much in the year they were dating. The girl who showed Bailey how much Bailey meant to her almost everyday. Bailey wanted to be able to feel Skye’s warmth again. 

“It doesn’t matter,” Bailey felt the words leave her mouth almost bitterly, “It’s not really like talking to her if she can’t talk back.”

The nurse looked startled for a second, like Bailey had seen through some mirage that had worked with millions of patients before. Her face changed to something like pity, like she felt bad for Bailey because Bailey didn’t believe that talking to Skye would make her feel better about her girlfriend still being in an ICU with a nurse watching her twenty-four seven. Like there wasn’t a tube down her throat pushing and pulling air in her chest. Like there weren’t IVs and tubes keeping her girlfriend alive.

Bailey felt someone put a hand on her shoulder and she turned to see Rory standing next to her. 

The room fell into silence. The beeping of machines the only sounds for the rest of their visit.

***

Bailey didn’t get to see Skye the next day. The doctors had turned her away because Mrs. and Mr. Crandall had forbade visitors that weren’t family. She tried to reason that she had permission from Audrey, but it seemed that was no longer enough. Mr. or Mrs. Crandall had to allow her in.

It caused a moment of panic and Bailey had pulled the business card of the young lawyer to see what was going on.

“Sorry, kid,” Audrey’s voice was gruff over the phone, “this thing with the pile up is getting out of hand. The family who lost their grandfather in the crash are suing and won’t be bought to make this disappear. There are more cops than ever waiting for Brian to wake up. It's a mess.”

Bailey admitted that she hadn’t even thought about Brian in the last few days. He had been in worse condition then Skye, but she hadn’t really kept up with how he was doing.

Audrey couldn’t tell her much more about what was going on, but the local news was suddenly aflame with stories of groups of people out for Brian’s blood. He was being charged with DWI, endangerment of a minor (who Bailey assumed was Skye), and involuntary manslaughter.

Bailey wondered if that’s what Audrey was there for, to defend the Crandall family in the case. Her second thought was if Skye was the favorite again because of this.

It was hard to tell with the Crandall family. Reporters were ambushing them anytime they left the hospital, asking them horrible questions about Brian and whether he was going to be under arrest for his crimes.

Maybe not going to the hospital was for the best. Bailey hated that she felt that way. She wanted to be able to find some comfort in the progress Skye had made. To be able to see that she was doing well, to see that Skye could on some level understand that she was sitting next to her, holding her hand, talking to her, all that should’ve made her feel better. But Bailey couldn’t bring herself to find comfort in any of those things.

Bailey felt numbness as she pulled Skye’s cardigan closer to her form. The cardigan smelled like her shampoo now, as if it had already erased Skye from existence.

“You really should stop watching that.”

Casey leaned on the couch, looking at his twin with concern. The TV played a new story about a protest outside the hospital. Bailey couldn’t follow all the details of the trial, but it looked like the lawyer the Crandall’s hired had somehow cleared Brian of the involuntary manslaughter charge. 

Bailey was a bit surprised to see the lawyer wasn’t Audrey but an older man who bore a strong resemblance to Mr. Crandall. He had somehow placed all the blame on the people who rear-ended the Crandall’s car, somehow proving that it was them crashing into their car that caused the impact that killed the old man.

It was all dark and twisted. Case was probably right to tell Bailey to turn it off.

Would Brian really get away with this too?

***

The hospital got quiet as the week went on. Thursday Bailey was able to get in to at least sit in the waiting room. If Mr. or Mrs. Crandall walked out, she could talk to them. Maybe they would let her in to see Skye.

After a few hours, Bailey was a little suspicious. Mrs. Crandall always left the ICU every two or so hours to touch up her makeup and get some coffees. Or she would see Mr. Crandall pacing back and forth. She saw none of that behind the glass window on the ICU doors.

Maybe she could ask the nurse.

“Excuse me,” Bailey walked up to the familiar head nurse, “Mr. or Mrs. Crandall here?”

“I’m sorry, but they demanded that their children be transferred to a specialized facility, they’re no longer patients at this hospital.”

Bailey felt the color drain from her face.

“Do you know where they went?”

“I’m sorry dear, that’s classified patient information.”

Skye was gone.

The force of the realization make Bailey’s heart stop.

Skye was gone.

And she had no idea if she was okay. No idea of the girl was even awake. No idea of anything that was going on.

She was just… gone.


	3. Destroy The Middle, It's A Waste Of Time

Skye woke up in a prison like white room, much like she has for the last few days. The room had a giant window on one wall, though the blinds were never opened so she could glance at the outside world. Tehran was an old TV propped up on the wall across from the bed. It was still off as the morning nurse hadn't come in to check on her yet. Skye could only sit there and watch the second hand on the clock as it ticked on. 

Skye could barely hear noises of people walking by and chatting behind the closed door of her hospital room.

She had been there for three days. Five days ago the tube was pulled from her throat and her parents demanded the transfer because of her brother's declining health. Ever since the transfer, Skye hadn't seen her parents. Only the nurses assigned to her room a few times a day to check on her. And the other nurse who checked her blood sugar every few hours.

Skye really hated that nurse. Once they pricked her finger while she was sleeping, which not only woke her up but pissed her off for three hours after. Mostly because the nurse never apologized.

They also never tell her about Brian. She's tried to ask how he was doing, but the words kept cutting in her throat 

Her throat still hurt from the tube. She tried talking to try and ask the nurse for water once, but her voice didn’t go any louder than a whisper. The very attempt made it feel as though she swallowed sandpaper. 

The pain only made everything worse. Her knee alone made her want to break down in tears. Thankfully the hospital kept her on some pretty heavy hitting pain medications. But on the times where the doses didn't quite overlap, Skye was thrown into an hour or two of pure agonizing pain.

The nurse brought back juice two hours later.

Once in awhile she'd get a visit from Audrey.

Which concerned Skye more than anything.

Audrey was a bit of an off colored Crandall. She lacks the loyalty to the Crandall name that most of Skye's other cousins had. From what Skye heard from her gossiping aunts, Audrey wanted revenge against her father, Skye's father's brother, for how he treated her mother. So she spent years learning law, building a reputation as an absolute demon in the courtroom, and plotted a hostile takeover of her father's law firm which was one of the founding branches of the Crandall Family Business.

She destroyed him. Completely disgraced him in front of hundreds of clients and twisted his arm into signing the entire company over to her.

Ever since then she has been the Crandall family Devil's Advocate. If you were a Crandall in legal trouble and you pissed her off, she'd defend whoever was suing you and bury you.

Some rather admired Audrey's ruthlessness, Skye's mother being one of them.

Skye however, would rather proceed with caution.

But it was very hard to keep a nonchalant attitude toward her when she was the only one who came to visit Skye.  _ And bring food _ .

Food was amazing. 

The food she brought wasn't as good as the food Bailey made at the diner. 

But Skye would eat anything that wasn't hospital food. And Audrey would sit with her for at least half an hour while Skye ate.

It was the most interesting thing that would happen to her all day. Audrey came to visit her every 12:15 pm with a take out bag from some fancy soup cafe. Yesterday it was tomato, the day before it was chicken noodle.

It's sad how much Skye looked forward to the bare minimum of human interaction.

Audrey walked into the room at exactly 12:15 with a folder in one hand and the bag in the other. Skye hated how excited she got at the older Crandall's appearance. Sometimes it felt like a trap, other days her dose of painkillers made her far happier then normal for the company.

Today she was a bit high. The painkillers having fully kicked in by the time Audrey walked in the door.

"Hey Kiddo, hungry?"

Audrey placed the bag on the tray before settling herself on one of the chairs. They never really talked, but Skye appreciated the company as she dug into the bag.

It's potato soup today.

Skye slipped into an ignorant bliss while scarfing down the offered meal. The warmth of the soup worked to soothe her sore throat. 

"What are you reading?"

Usually it was a book Audrey brought, the folder was different. It was new and Skye's brain wanted to know what it was.

Audrey looked up from the file.

"Just something for your brother's trial," Audrey hummed, "even if I'm not defending him, that doesn't mean I can't cover my bases."

Skye's a bit sorry she asked as she went back to her soup.

"...do you remember the accident?"

"Yeah, the police already took my statement."

"I know, I'm reading it. Here it says the car was rear ended first, so Brian didn't drive through the red light, the car was pushed?"

Skye lost her appetite immediately.

She hated when the cops made her relive the entire incident. She had been thankful that it was the only time she really had to think about it.

"I'm positive."

Audrey flashed her a strange smile.

"Ok. Well, I should get back to work. See you tomorrow kid."

***

Over three weeks.

That’s how long Bailey rode her bike to the Crandall mansion every day after school expecting to see either one of the expensive luxury cars or a “for sale” sign posted in the driveway. A few times a housekeeper had shooed her away in broken English, yelling at her that no one was home and to leave. No one had heard anything from the Crandall family since they left town.

Bailey wasn’t even sure they were allowed to do that, not with Brian’s trial going on.

It’s a week until Thanksgiving and the crash and trial is everywhere.

Bailey really wanted to turn off the TV in the diner.

Too bad fate was an evil bitch. As soon as Bailey thought of turning off the TV, two familiar figures walked into the diner.

Mrs. Crandall and Audrey were holding another hushed argument. Casey caught them first and set them up at one of the booths, neither really looking up from their argument to talk to him more than needed. Casey poured their coffee for them before being shooed away by Mrs. Crandall.

“I have no idea why you wanted to come  _ here _ to talk,”

“I like the coffee,” Audrey flashed a smirk that clearly irritated her aunt before turning to Casey, “thanks, kid.”

Bailey cleaned menus as she watched them. She heard Brian’s name being tossed back and forth. Mrs. Crandall getting angry whenever Audrey shook her head. Eventually Bailey started feeling rather annoyed. The woman had taken her Skye from her, then waltz into her diner like she owned the place and only seemed concerned for Brian.

Bailey didn’t know she had been walking over until she stopped dead at their table. Mrs. Crandall doesn’t even look up, she waved her off as if being annoyed by a server while Audrey looked up over the rim of her mug.

“Hey kid, long time no see.”

Bailey felt a flash of white hot rage settle in her chest, it must have showed on her face a bit because Audrey quickly removed the nonchalant smile from her face. She lifted the mug in her hand for a second as if to say she meant no harm.

“Where’s Skye?”

“You lack tact, kid.” Audrey shook her head as Mrs. Crandall finally turned to Bailey with fire in her eyes.

“Excuse me? Who do you think you are? Coming up to us like that and demanding things!”

“Aunt Alice, chill she’s just worried about her friend.”

“How dare you!” Mrs. Crandall turned on Audrey, “Worried about  _ Skye _ ? I’m here planning my son’s  _ funeral _ ! And you’re worried about  _ her _ ?”

The entire diner got completely silent. Mrs. Crandall stood from her seat, makeup smeared as if she’d already been crying. Bailey suddenly went sheepish, looking at the ground as her face burned in embarrassment. 

“I’d be worried too.”

Mrs. Crandall turned on the younger woman.

“What does that mean?”

“Do you do take-out orders?”

Bailey whipped her head up to look at Audrey, who sipped her coffee in an unusual show of calmness. Bailey only nodded. Audrey stood and dug in her pocket for a second before pushing a few twenties towards Bailey.

“Could you do a delivery to the  _ Crandall Mansion _ ?” 

Bailey blinked as Audrey shoved the money into her hand.

“Whatever this covers, anything extra is tip. Come on Aunt Alice, we have to do a final check before the viewing tonight.”

Audrey lead the older woman out of the diner, leaving Bailey standing there with almost a hundred dollars cash in her hand. Bailey recounted the money and thought for a second that she should just pocket it, but Audrey’s words played in her head. 

_ Delivery to the Crandall Mansion _

***

Four walls.

She doesn’t remember how long she was there before her mother finally came to visit her, and that was only to tell her that Brian hadn’t made it. Skye had never seen her mother cry, and her drugged up brain at the time couldn’t process the words at first. Her mother got angry, and before Skye knew it her mother had been screaming and dragged out of the room by a nurse.

Once the doctors lightened the drug load Skye was on, her parents informed her they would be going back to Cedar Cove to plan Brian’s funeral.

Her father was cold, colder than Skye ever remembered him being. Her mother was hot and cold. Sometimes she would come sit with Skye and it was a comfortable company in the usually empty room. Others she would yell, scream, blame Skye for the accident.

She’d yell about how it’s Skye’s fault, she should have never left the house.

It’s Skye’s fault, she should have never left knowing her brother was drinking.

It was Skye’s fault, why would she let Brian drive her back home when she could have walked it.

Their father didn’t come back with them, he didn’t want to be in the same room as Skye. In his words.

“The wrong child died.”

He didn’t yell it, he just stared Skye in the eye and delivered the verdict in his coldest tone. 

“At least Brian was good for something, you’d best serve this family in death. At least then we’d gain sympathy for losing you.”

He said it so casually.

Like it was a fact.

Skye’s life didn’t mean as much to them as Brian’s.

Skye wasn’t as valuable as Brian.

Or maybe it was because Brian's death didn't get them the publicity they wanted. Brian was still labeled a creep and a reckless basket case so his death hadn't sparked enough tears in the media as far as her parents were concerned. 

Skye leaned back on the couch of the Crandall Mansion. There were still four walls, but Skye couldn’t find the desire to go outside them. A weird numb feeling settled over her, she had been feeling it a lot in the past few weeks. It sat in her stomach for a minute or two and then spread to the rest of her body until she wasn’t sure her body and soul were in the same place.

It only occurred to her once that she should text or call Bailey. She just couldn’t find the energy to actually follow through. Why would Bailey want to see her anyway? It wasn’t like Skye could really do anything with a half-healed knee that was still in a cast. She’d have to hobble around on crutches the entire time and Bailey would feel as though she needed to take care of her.

She would only bother Bailey.

So she’ll stay away.

But everything felt so cold and Bailey was always so  _ warm _ . Skye missed her so much, missed her warmth and her smile and her bright eyes and dorky jokes.

She missed her until the numbness swallowed her whole, making her feel nothing at all.

***

Bailey stood outside the Crandall house about thirty minutes later, her mom sat in the car outside the house as Bailey walked up to the door. She rang the bell and waited. She looked back towards the car where her mom only shrugged. There was one of the Crandall cars parked in the driveway. The silver Lexus. Parked next to it was a car Bailey didn’t recognize, a darker colored Subaru. 

After a few minutes Bailey raised her hand to hit the doorbell again when she heard the door unlock and the knob turn slowly before someone pulled the door open.

It’s been such a long time since Bailey’s seen that particular shade of red.

Skye shifted awkwardly on one crutch while she maneuvered the door open. She wore a long black sweatshirt that Bailey remembered leaving there once after a horror movie date. The bandages on her face were gone and, without her makeup, were replaced with a faint scar against her forehead and a lighter mark across her cheek. 

She must have been expecting Audrey or her mother because she looked surprised when she finally looked over to see Bailey standing there instead. It takes everything in Bailey not to drop the bag of food in her hand and pull Skye into her arms. 

“I really want to hug you but I don’t want to hurt-OOF”

Bailey’s stopped mid-sentence as Skye’s small body crashed into hers. She felt Skye’s arms wrapped tightly around her as she buried her face Bailey’s neck. The crash of Skye’s crutches on the marble floor just barely registers to Bailey as she gently wrapped her arms around Skye’s shoulders in return.

_ Roses _

Bailey buried her face in Skye’s hair once the familiar smell hit her. She missed it. She missed everything about Skye. For a minute it felt like the world was falling back into place now that she had Skye back in her arms.

“Bailey.”

Skye’s voice is raspier than Bailey remembered. She felt herself run a hand through the other girl’s soft hair. 

“Skye.”

Skye’s warm body snuggled impossibly closer. Bailey felt herself smile for a moment until she registered that Skye’s body shook in her arms, she almost asks what’s wrong when she feels cool tears hit her neck. Bailey heard the barely choked sob muffle against her shoulder as Skye completely lost it, falling apart hard in Bailey’s arms. It took Bailey a second for it to really click.

Brian was dead.

Skye’s  _ brother _ was dead.

Skye had been stuck with her parents for how long during those three weeks? What had they done to her in such a short time that broke her?

The bag of food is still clenched in Bailey’s hand. She looked at it for a moment before giving in and dropping it to the ground so she could fully hold her girlfriend.

Skye hadn’t imagined seeing Bailey again would feel this good. The girl grounded her for a second, a peaceful second, before everything exploded to the surface. 

Her throat hurt, it burned as she tried to hold back the sobs. Her tears were quickly dampening the fabric of Bailey’s sweater. Her shaking body only caused a dull aching pain to creep up her ribcage. Bailey’s warmth spread through her, pushing back the numbness that had settled in her bones.

For the first time in three weeks, something felt normal.

Skye felt her sobbing let up. A wave of exhaustion hit her as the two stood on the porch. One of Bailey’s hands moved up to the side of Skye’s face, brushing at the trail of wetness left over from her tears. Bailey shifted slightly, pressing light kisses across Skye’s face following the pattern of her freckles.

“I brought food,” Bailey offered gently, “let’s get inside before you catch a cold.”

It took a solid minute of thinking for them to figure out how to strategically get one of the crutches so Skye could balance herself back into the house. Bailey picked up the bag and followed her in, closing the door behind them.

Bailey moved around Skye’s kitchen like she had a few times before. During dates where Skye happened to be the favorite of the week and her parents would go out and she’d have the house to herself. Food was something Skye used to not understand when she started dating Bailey. Food was just what the private chef at the Crandall mansion prepared. When Bailey cooked, it felt different. She put her heart into it. She’d hum at the stove and move around the kitchen with purpose. She’d get so excited when Skye liked anything she made. 

Bailey hummed as she placed the take-out containers on the marble topped kitchen table. The smell of pancakes and bacon quickly filled the kitchen.

“Oh, I forgot forks!” 

Bailey turns over to the many cabinets and drawers of the Crandall kitchen opening and closing them to locate the drawer with the utensils. She looks odd in the Crandall kitchen, Skye thought. All soft curves and bright eyes against the sharp modern edges and dark contemporary colors of the kitchen. She’s been wearing her long blonde hair down more, it looked cute.

The thought warmed Skye for a moment before a familiar numb feeling gnawed at her insides. She tried to ignore it, push it back so she could enjoy time with her girlfriend. She hadn’t seen her in so long, she felt like an addict taking a hit after withdrawal. 

But the feeling didn’t last, the cold started to set in and Skye felt her mind wondering elsewhere.

Namely to her parents’ cadillac. To leather seats and loud music and her brother’s yelling about the party at the house that was going to be ruined if they didn’t get there soon. The memory feels like static, her Brother’s voice doesn’t sound right.

What did he sound like?

Did she even remember what his voice sounded like?

Her mind goes haywire for a moment, panicking at it tries to recreate a voice she hasn’t heard in weeks. It felt like her mind was a radio and she couldn't find the right station.

_ She can’t remember. She can’t remember. She can’t remember. _

She couldn’t make it sound right in her head. The words get jumbled. The revving of the car gets louder. The light turned red, Brian cursed and tried to hit the break…

“Found them!”

The crash of the forks on the table caused Skye to almost jump out of her skin.

"Sorry!" Bailey squeaked when she saw Skye jump.

Skye felt her muscles tense up. She couldn't relax them for several minutes as she tried to stop spiraling.

"I'm sorry," Bailey said again softer as she placed a hand on top of Skye's, "about Brian."

Bailey's green eyes are so honest. It seems like such a strange thing to think, but to Skye, who's used to people's distrustful glares and faux happy smiles, it's one of the most beautiful things about Bailey.

Skye hadn't felt that kindness, that honesty, for weeks. Bailey was the single source of warmth in the emotional tundra that was the Crandall house. Skye needed that warmth.

She was sure she's die without it.

Then her parents would get what they want.

Bailey scooted closer, raising her free hand to brush the messy red locks away from Skye's face.

"What's going on?"

It's a weirdly tailored question. It was how Bailey asked what was troubling her when she saw Skye's mind race. When she saw Skye mentally check out.

Skye's words freeze in her throat and she cant push them past her lips. She instantly felt furious with herself for not being able to form the words and ashamed that she couldn't feel safe enough to tell Bailey of the hell in her head.

Instead of verbally answering, Skye turned in her seat resting her forehead against Bailey's shoulder. Bailey wrapped her up in her warmth, letting her find a temporary home in her light.

Temporary.

_ Once she finds out how fucked up you are she will leave you _ .

Skye pushed the voice out of her head, trying to focus on the girl's hand through her hair. Her arms wrapped around her. 

_ You're not okay _

_ It hurts _ .


	4. From The Perfect Start, To The Finish Line

Brian's funeral was as elaborate as anything else her parents planned. The coffin alone was several hundred thousand dollars as Mr. Crandall liked to say. They rented out the largest church in Cedar Cove, strange since her parents never went to church, and had professionals write eulogies that they would read to the hundreds of people who attended. 

The entire Crandall Family was there, seated towards the front of the Church, several important clients were invited, and then what looked like the entire Hearst student body.

Her father did his speech first. Her mother was tearing up at her own. Mr. Crandall made it clear Skye would present something as well and handed her a tailored eulogy for the occasion. 

So Skye had been forced to stand on her crutches behind the altar of the Church for several hours and then give a speech she didn't even write to a church full of important people with her father leering over her as if the entire event was about him.

_ Don't embarrass me. _

That's all he had said to her all day. This was  _ Brian's  _ funeral. How her father figured it was all about him was beyond her. As soon as her mother sniffled through her eulogy, Skye felt her father's hand clasp roughly against her shoulder, giving her a rough push to take her place.

Everyone waited as Skye took a breath, gathering the eulogy written by someone who never knew Brian. She could see some of her cousins on their phones, others seem to scoff as she took the altar.

"Thank you to everyone who joined us today in time of my brother's unfortunate passing."

_ Unfortunate _

"With the family business being so profitable this year, I'm happy to see everyone come together in honor of Brian's short, but fulfilled life."

_ But was it really? _

"My brother was a successful athlete, truly the envy of many of his peers. He was studious and dedicated to his academics,"

_ Liar _

"He treated others fairly,"

_ Liar _

"He was truly worthy of being an heir to the Crandall name. People envied him, they tried to drag his name through the mud many times. But Brian always came out on top."

_ Because he bought his problems away _ .

"My favorite memory with my brother will always be…"

Skye trailed off at the fabricated story in front of her. Did she even have a good memory of him? Did they ever get along? Did she really know anything about him?

Had they really spent all their time fighting and trying to one up each other?

Skye had a brother, but they were never  _ siblings _ . They never hung out like Bailey and Casey. They never looked out for each other like Ajay and Mohit. They were nobody to each other.

In the end, Skye felt like she knew nothing about him. Was that entitled jerk really all her brother was? Was there anything more to him then that?

Skye's thoughts are cut short by her father's hand on her shoulder, his grip is tight enough to cause slight pain. A warning that she was getting close to making him look bad.

Would Brian even  _ want _ this?

Lies? His entire life gone and it being remembered with lies?

"My brother and I competed a lot," Skye felt the hand on her shoulder tighten, "there are days where it felt like we weren't family. My brother wasn't… Brian didn't always react to things the way he should, and he got in trouble with a lot of people. But I don't think he desired to die like this."

The hand on her shoulder pressed down harshly, sending a jolt through her.

Her aunts looked at her with pitiful looks, like she was so dumb to show real emotion. Her cousins scoffed or laughed behind their hands. This was just Skye being difficult. Skye being emotional. This is why Skye shouldn't be the heiress of the Crandall name.

Her father stepped in, pushing her back as he took over the mic. Skye looked up at her mother only to see her staring a Skye like she was worse than dirt.

As everyone moves to stand, getting ready to head to the cemetery, Mr. Crandall stopped Skye with a raised hand like how someone would ask a dog to stay. She was forced to the back of the Crandall family as they lowered her brother's coffin into the ground. People paid their respects before leaving, some going home, others invited to the reception at the Crandall mansion.

Skye watches a few people walk up to the open hole her brother laid in. A few people respectfully bowed their heads or tossed in flowers. A group of girls walked up towards the end. They stood over Brian's grave for a few moments before Skye watched as one girl leaned over and spit in the hole in the earth.

Skye wasn't blind to how her brother treated girls, but he was dead, there was no need to do that.

The other girls laughed and took turns spitting down into the dirt before they turned and walked down the aisle of folding chairs set up for the event. Skye stood up as they drew close, blocking their path.

The middle girl looked her up and down before sneering at her.

"You got something to say?"

"She's probably mad you spit in her big brother's grave."

"How sweet of you to defend the sexist jackass!"

"You couldn't stand up to him when he was alive?" Skye asked coldly as a strange rage settled like ice in her veins, "can only stand up for yourself punching down, huh?"

The lead girl eyed Skye for a moment before she snickered. She raised her hand and shoved Skye square in the chest, easily knocking her off balance and sending her and the crutches down onto the cold ground.

"That's big talk for someone who can't stand."

Skye can't reply. Her knee screamed at the sudden blow, her ribs ached in protest as she tried to get up. The girls giggled at her poor attempts.

"Leave her alone."

Skye felt someone pull her up. She turned her head to see Caleb and Micheal standing behind her in dark clothing.

"We all know Brian was an ass, doesn't mean you should go pushing people." 

Caleb grabbed Skye's crutches off the ground and handed them to her as Micheal pulled her to her feet.

"She's right, just because Brian was a douche doesn't mean he had to die."

The girls only scoffed and walked away without another word.

"For what it's worth, we are sorry about Brian. He used to be our friend," Caleb said as he gave Skye a sympathetic look, "he wasn't the greatest guy, but I don't think he deserved the ending he was given."

Micheal nodded as Mrs. Crandall headed in their direction. They offered Skye quick goodbyes before disappearing into the crowd.

"There are a lot of people here. A lot of people loved your brother."

_ Or they were just afraid of dad. _

_ Or they just wanted to see Brian dead. _

Before she knew it, her mother was ushering her into the car so they could go back home for the reception. Her mother had expensive wines and hors d'oeuvres waiting for the close family and friends (clients).

They're halfway to the Crandall mansion when Mr. Crandall pulled over.

"Get out."

Skye started at the voice. Her father gazed at her from the rearview mirror coldly.

"Clearly you can't talk to important people, how dare you go off script. You're wasting your time with theatre if you can't even read a script correctly. Get out."

Skye's almost as relieved as she was horrified at the command. She pulled herself out of the car as her father's icy blue eyes glared daggers into her. The car sped away just as Skye balanced herself upright on her crutches.

Skye looked around to grasp her surroundings, she was a ways away from the diner, but she might be able to make it there. Seeing Bailey's smile always made her feel better.

It wasn't going to be easy, her arms were already sore from holding her up all day and her body still ached from the fall. She took a deep breath before trudging forward, down the sidewalks and towards the diner.

The closer she got to the shopping strip, the more crowded the sidewalks became. Early Christmas shoppers filled the streets with various bags and pre-wrapped gifts. 

Skye had completely forgotten about the holidays. Thanksgiving was this week. Her parents had talked to the chef to make sure their meal would still be prepared how they liked it. Skye didn't understand why, it wasn't like Brian was going to be eating with them this year.

Or ever again for that matter.

Yet, her parents had remembered to make sure their holidays were covered even missing a child. Her father even calculated the size of the turkey they would need now that Brian "wouldn't be joining them" as he put it to the chef before waving off his words of remorse for the young man's death.

Brian liked Thanksgiving, it combined his favorite things; football and food.

The cold air isn't kind to Skye's lungs as she continued on, her breath panted out in visible puffs as she moved down the street.

"Skye, dear!"

The upbeat voice caused Skye to look up, greeted with the bright smile of Mrs. Silva a few feet away.

"I thought that was you, it's been so long! Why don't you come join me for a cup of tea?"

Mrs. Silva looked good, from what Skye recalled from the last time she'd seen the older woman, she was almost done with cancer treatments and was looking forward to being back in good health.

Skye doesn't get the chance to refuse the offer since Mrs. Silva had already led her over to the little cafe on the corner. Before Skye knew it she was seated across from the older woman in the cozy little cafe.

"Green tea for me. Black for you dear? I think I recall that being your go-to."

Skye smiled slightly at the comment. 

"Yeah, that's right."

Mrs. Silva smiled as the young waitress took their order and disappeared behind the counter.

"How are you holding up, dear?"

Mrs. Silva asked with concern in her voice. Skye had to think about the question.

"I don't know," Skye took a second to formulate the proper response, to try to find the words that corresponded with how she felt, "my brother and I weren't close. I think I'm sad he's gone, but I dont think I'm as upset about it as I should be. He was my brother, but no one's acting like I should be more upset about him being gone."

Mrs. Silva listened patiently, and Skye's thankful for it. Her own mother never listened when it came to Brian's death. She'd yell if Skye wasnt reacting the way her mother wanted her too.

"A lot of people are happy he's gone. There were these girls at his funeral that spit on his grave."

"How horrible! Even if he didn't get along with people there is no need to disrespect someone in death."

"I think that's what made me angry. I know my brother wasn't a good person. But, he's gone now. What does spitting on his grave accomplish? It's not like doing anything now will make him a good person."

Skye fell silent as the waitress came back with their drinks, the warm steam if the tea and relief against the coldness.

"You have a lot of mixed feelings about this," Mrs. Silva pointed out, "I can understand that things like this can be confusing."

"When I found out what happened, I think I wanted to find out more about him, try to find a part of him worth missing. So I broke into his room earlier today-"

_ Skye's mother and father were doing last minute things for the funeral when Skye slipped away from the kitchen and up the stairs at her slow pace. She hated the stairs in her house now, they made moving around on crutches impossible.  _

_ Brian's room had been closed off since they got back. Skye hadn't set foot inside the Axe body spray cloud that was her brother's room for years. The door creaked when she opened it, revealing the man cave behind it. _

_ Brian's room… looked like a male version of her own. She half expected walls covered in sports posters and half-naked girls. Sports memorabilia displayed on bookshelves instead of the works of Shakespeare and Frost lined up on expensive dark wood shelves. The room was bathed in royal colors and rich hues of blue and gold. _

_ It hits Skye hard that her brother and her had one big thing in common. _

_ They lacked freedom. _

_ Brian hadn't been allowed to decorate his own room. Is that why he partied all the time? To avoid coming home? Was she reading into it too much? _

_ Skye glanced across the room and forced on the bed. Specifically the sheets, which much like her own, almost met the marble floors. If there was a real part of Brian somewhere in this room, it would be hidden. Skye wondered briefly if her and her brother had the same idea as she balanced her crutches on the end table and balanced herself to check under her brother's bed. _

_ The first box she pulled out was stacked with sports magazines and magazines with very naked girls. Skye shook her head and pushed the book aside. _

_ The second box was filled with pictures… vandalized pictures of Berry students Brian used to be friends with. Skye recognized pictures of Micheal, Caleb, Hank the Tank? Something the tank. There's an untouched photo of some Hearst girl Brian used to date.  _

_ There's a family photo mixed in. It was an old one from when Skye had to be around ten years old. The photo is clean except for their father littered with red ink as if he was bleeding from every opening on his body. _

_ It's a violent image from Brian. Brian may have been a sexist jerk, but he wasn't violent. He ran away from fights he couldn't win, that's why he fought with Skye so much. She was smaller, easy to beat because she was the unfavorite in the household. She got in trouble for fighting back. He could win fights against her, so he did. Being pushed in the pool, getting her drawings stolen, sketchbooks thrown into the fountain, and every other way her brother bullied her flashed through her head. _

_ Her mother's voice called in an irritated tone. Skye shoved the boxes back under the bed before scrambling up and leaving the room. _

"-and then I left."

Skye sipped her tea for a moment, her throat not used to that much talking yet. Mrs. Silva looked to be taking in the story.

"I used to think my parents and brother were one in the same, I didn't think he might feel similarly to what I feel."

"If I may, from what you've told me about your parents and from what I've heard from Rory, it sounds like they kept you and your brother competing with each other. Even if you have found out that similarity between you two before, do you think it would have changed anything?"

"...I don't know. Micheal said once that Brian was the first person to be nice to him when he transferred to Berry, and that Brian started being a jerk after joining the team. I thought it was weird at first because my brother's been a jerk since I could walk. But maybe it was more about having an escape for him, like what my friends are to me. Once he joined sports, our parents treated him better, maybe that made him a jerk to them because he felt like he didn't need them anymore because he had our parents."

Skye thought for a moment, shifting her gaze to the dark liquid in her cup.

"Maybe if Brian had stayed at Berry, been forced to face his mistakes head on instead of transferring to Hearst, he would have learned how to be a better person."

The two sit in silence for a moment before Mrs. Silva flashed a gentle smile.

"You sound like Bailey," Mrs. Silva let out a quiet laugh, "I'm sorry dear, I don't mean to laugh. It's such an optimistic perspective for you. I think I understand though. There are a lot of what ifs in your brother's story. But I think it's important for you to understand that none of this is your fault. You couldn't have changed things as they played out, sometimes it's easy to look back and think you know where mistakes happened. That's not always the case, dear."

Skye looked up at the woman across from her. The woman who has had more patience with her then anyone else during this ordeal (except for Bailey). Mrs. Silva was easy to rant this kind of stuff too. Sometimes Skye worried she'd upset Bailey with some of the things she dealt with, she hated making the other girl upset because of her.

"Would you like to join me for dinner dear? Rory, Martin, and I would love to have you. I know my Rory would love to see you."

Skye didn't have much of a choice if she wanted to eat tonight. Her father hadn't given her a time when she was allowed to come home so it was safer to stay away.

"Okay."

"Fantastic! Oh you can help me distract Rory and Martin so I can hide their gifts. I'm working on getting my shopping done early."

It was nice being in Mrs. Silva's car on the way to the Silva household. Skye usually didn't feel weird about cars since the accident. She felt unnerved a bit being in the passenger seat, but she felt like she could handle it. It was also nice to have a long break off her feet. The second they drove into the driveway, Rory bounced out of the house with the excuse that they came out to help with carrying in bags.

"Oh no, no peeking on my watch. You can help our guest get comfortable though."

Rory looked over at the passenger side of the car and lit up at seeing Skye there. They bounced over and opened the door for Skye.

"Skye! It's so good to see you!"

Rory was actually a big help as she directed Skye towards the non icy parts of the driveway. Once inside Skye is met by the aggressive scent of cinnamon and pumpkin.

Mr. Silva poked his head over towards the front door smiling when he noticed Skye with Rory.

"Skye, nice to see you again, will you be joining us for dinner?"

"Yes, sir."

Mr. Silva chuckled before his face grew more sincere.

"I'm glad to see you up and about, my wife and Rory were very worried about you. I hear you've been having a pretty rough time."

That was an understatement. Maybe with Brian's funeral over things would calm down, at least maybe her dad would back off a little. Skye only nodded at Mrs. Silva, he gave her a sympathetic look before changing the subject to something else.

Having dinner with the Silvas was so much different then having dinner with her own parents. For one it was louder, the other three talked and joked and had fun while they ate. Rory’s laugh echoed through the cozy house, causing even Skye to flash a smile every time Rory and their father went back and forth with horrible dad jokes. 

The food was good too. Skye didn’t know why she preferred everyone else’s cooking to her family’s private chef who trained in Paris for seven years and owned his own private catering business (as her mother gloated to all their clients). Maybe it wasn’t the food as much as it was the energy. During family dinners, her parents preferred quiet, classical music played through the dining hall. The only person allowed to talk what whoever was the favorite that week. Usually it was Brian during sports seasons, and he would regale everyone with some tale of harassing some girl or making fun of various students. 

This was different. 

Rory and their father are telling jokes, Mrs. Silva chiming in with stories about the two when Rory was younger. They kept Skye in the loop, even when she tried to sit back and hide. The atmosphere held a warmth to it that Skye only rarely felt. It was nice.

Rory doesn’t allow her to help with dishes, insisting that they had it and that it was no trouble.

Mr. Silva excused himself to help Rory, leaving Mrs. Silva and Skye alone again. Mrs. Silva smiles over her glass of water as Skye settled in the seat, listening to Rory belt showtones from the kitchen.

In the warm silence, Skye felt her mind wonder. She wondered if her extended family were still at the Crandall mansion, getting drunk on twenty-five plus year old wine and eating expensive food. She glanced at her phone, seeing that her mother had texted her, saying Skye needed to get back to the house because some family members were asking about her.

“Something going on at home?” 

“I have to go home,” Skye offered with slight panic seeing the time stamp on the text being almost forty-five minutes ago.

“I’ll have Rory drive you,” Mrs. Silva offered before standing and calling into the kitchen to get Rory while Skye scrambled to get upright on her crutches. Rory met her with a grin and her car keys as the two left the house and headed towards Rory’s car.

The second they get settled, Skye feels a strange fear creep into her stomach as Rory started the car and backed out of the driveway and toward the Crandall mansion. It started as a strange uneasiness that gnawed at her insides as they drove down the quiet streets. It flashed with full blown panic each time a car flashed their high beams into the car.

_ “I can’t believe you made me come get you!” _

_ Brian’s voice boomed through the car as Skye leaned against the window, trying to ignore him.  _

_ “Why can’t you flip the breaker, it’s not that hard.” _

_ Brian scoffed at her as the two continued to bicker back and forth. _

_ “Why do I need to learn? I have people to do things for me, that’s how important people work. Important people have unimportant people do stuff for them. Guess which one you are?” _

_ “The one smart enough to know what a breaker is?” _

_ “Go to hell!” _

_ The light in front of them turns red and Brian let the car creep slowly towards the intersection impatiently. _

_ “Come on, come on, come on!” _

_ Brian looked left and right as if trying to figure out if he could make it across before any cars came by. The road is slightly crowded with people going to and from Halloween parties. Brian growled at the light. _

_ “I swear to god if you made me miss- FUCK” _

_ The car jerked forward when someone hit them from behind. Skye felt her body slam back into the passenger seat of the car. The two sat there for a moment trying to figure out what had happened. _

_ “Dad’s gonna kill me,” Brian whimpered as he glanced in the rearview mirror for a second to see someone stumble out of the driver’s seat of the car that had slammed into them. _

_ Then there’s headlights. Skye saw the white light fade her brother’s features for a moment, leaving him as nothing more than a silhouette before _

_ Nothing _

“Skye? Skye!” 

Skye jerked as Rory’s hand made contact with her shoulder. She felt like she had been dosed in a cold sweat. She was shaking and her breath came in and out in short bursts. 

“Hey, are you okay?”

Skye looked around to see they were parked in front of the Crandall mansion. There were still a few cars parked in the driveway. People were talking and laughing through the windows.

Skye felt the panic fade slightly as she wordlessly opened the car door and fumbled out. She heard the driver’s side door open and hurried footsteps.

“I’m okay-”

Skye doesn’t get to say anything more before she was pulled into a hug. Rory held her tightly for a few moments before pulling away, keeping Skye close with their hands on her shoulders.

“If you need to talk, I’ll listen.”

It’s such a simple statement, something Skye should know, but it felt like Rory’s words were a warm reminder. 

Rory smiled warmly and Skye felt the armor she was trying to keep up crack a bit. She tried to look away, dropping her gaze to the black driveway at her feet.

“I’m here for you whenever you need it. If you need me for any reason, you text me and I’ll be over here as fast as I can. Or I’ll get Ajay or Erin to come get you. We’re all here for you and we know you’re having a hard time right now. Whatever we can do to help you, you let us know,” Rory’s soft voice broke through the silence. Skye felt the reassuring grip on her shoulders tightened for a brief moment, “tell me how I can help. What’s going on in your head?”

_ So much. _

_ Her head reeled sometimes. _

_ Sometimes she couldn’t stop thinking. _

“...I’m afraid.”

That was the most powerful emotion she felt right now. The creeping fear that would settle in her stomach or tighten against her lungs. Every time her father raised his voice, or her mother would turn to her with fire in her eyes. Skye felt like she was walking on eggshells. She couldn’t relax. She couldn’t feel safe in her own house.

“Do you want to leave? Or do you want me to stay?”

Skye doesn’t get to answer before she hears footsteps.

“There you are.” 

Mr. Crandall’s voice echoed in the air around them. Skye suddenly felt colder as the ice set in her veins. She feels her father walked over and rested a hand on her shoulder.

“Your mother was looking for you.”

Rory met Skye’s eyes with a worried look. 

“Say goodbye to your friend and go find your mother.”

It’s a bit more demanding, Skye stiffened a bit and Rory’s eyes glance from Mr. Crandall to Skye.

_ They can’t save you. _

The voice echoed through Skye’s skull like an unwelcome guest. Skye felt her mouth go dry as she tried to think of something to help herself out of the situation.

She found none.

“I’ll see you later.”

Rory’s eyes widened at the words as they watched Skye turn and head into the house followed closely by her father. He turned for a moment to call over his shoulder to Rory.

“Please move your car out of our driveway. I don’t want anyone to think we have those kinds of guests here tonight to celebrate my son’s life.”

The house is bright, her mother is sipping wine and talking with several of Skye’s aunts when Skye felt herself being pushed in her direction. Mrs. Crandall met her eyes only briefly, looking disgusted before picking up her conversation with the surrounding women.

_ They can’t help you. _

_ No one can help you. _


	5. And If Your Still Breathing, You're The Lucky Ones

Skye’s mother wasn’t doing well. It started after Thanksgiving diner. Her mother had a huge mental breakdown. It was the first time Skye had seen her parents screaming at each other. Her father and mother went at it for at least twenty minutes before her father ended the fight with a slap to her mother’s face.

Her father’s stomping echoed through the house before the door to his study slammed closed. She turned on Skye then. Screaming at her about how it was all her fault. It was Skye’s fault her brother was dead and it was Skye’s fault that she couldn’t have a nice meal with her husband. It was Skye’s fault that they’re family was broken and that her mother couldn’t sleep well at night because her baby boy was taken from her.

“I wish I had never had a second child.”

Skye was having a bad enough day as it was, she really didn’t want to deal with the added stress from her mother screaming at her. It pushed Skye's mind to a particularly dark place. That dark place where she starts to believe her parents are right and she was the reason for her brother's death. She had caused all her mother's pain and her father's cruelty. 

The darkness consumed her until the numbness she had almost grown fond of turned into pain. An ache that would start in the back of her head and traveled through her body until tears and misery consumed her. Her breath would feel like ice sitting on her lungs and her heart felt like it shouldn't be beating.

Skye had to leave. She couldn't be in the house anymore. Not with the way her mother had looked at her. Not with the way a dull panic sat in the back of her throat. 

She didn't have many options on where to go, but as the door closed behind her she realized she didn't care.

Anywhere but there.

She'd rather be cold and alone then in that house a moment longer.

The cold hit her hard as she made her way down the street. Her crutches echoed as she moved. She could go to Bailey's or Rory's, but-

That would require going through the intersection.

Where this entire thing started.

By herself.

Her parents took that road every day. Skye was forced in the backseat of their car driving through that intersection for the last few weeks.

Every time she hated it. 

She can't stop herself from flashing back to that night. To her brother's silhouette backlit by bright headlights until his features were unrecognizable.

Maybe she should just go home and hide in her room. The cold bit her skin as she stood on the sidewalk a block away. 

She let out a sigh as she weighed her options, her breath visible as smoke against the cold air.

There's a car.

Skye had become hypersensitive to their presence. The way the headlights flashed against her face and the sound of the engine haunted her nightmares. A panic sets under her skin as she heard the car pull closer.

"Not having a good Thanksgiving either?"

Skye jumped slightly at the familiar voice. She turned to see Ajay leaning his head out the window of his sports car. He looked a bit more disheveled than usual as he usually did. After a second Ajay moved to get out of the car, leaving the engine running.

"Come on, you don't have a coat, your going to catch a cold out here."

Ajay's car was warm. Skye leaned against the seat as Ajay tossed her crutches into the back seat before taking his place in the driver's seat.

"Any requests?"

Skye only shrugged as Ajay pulled away from the curb and started driving aimlessly down the street. Skye closed her eyes, trying to push down the panic that rose in her throat as indie rock music softly filled the car from the speakers.

She could feel Ajay glance at her every once in a while as they drove. Ajay's car sounded very similar to Brian's. It added to the unease Skye felt as their silence stretched on.

"The support group I've gone to since my parents divorce was having a meeting tonight. I was thinking of going. You can tag along if you want."

It wasn't like Skye had much of a choice. Either go with Ajay or go home to her little hole to hell that awaited her.

"My parents aren't divorced."

"Its fine, Bailey tagged along with me in the beginning, they're pretty okay with other people joining them."

Skye tried to give a response, but the headlights of other cars set her on edge every time they shined into the car. Ajay's silhouette backlit several times throughout the drive until he pulled into the parking lot of the library.

The second the two enter the library, the smell of cinnamon, nutmeg, and holiday spices fill the air. Ajay leads Skye over to the corner of the library where there is a table set up with several people surrounding it.

"Hey Ajay," a blonde girl that Skye recognized from last year's Spring production called as she smiled over, "and Skye! It so good to see you. It's nice to see you out and about."

Emma was her name, Skye recalled as the small group took their seats. Skye shifted to the edge of the group l, feeling horribly out of place. 

The tension doesn't leave Skye's body as the members of the support group tell of their troubles. The numbness doesn't hit her nearly as strong as it did when she was alone. Her desperation for some kind of human interaction that didn't involve her parents was temporary sated being in such a warm place with people who were struggling with their own broken families.

It was nice to hear people talking. After Brian's funeral it felt like the only sound her parents could make was yelling. They didn't appear to talk anymore. 

Some people had broken families, Skye felt like her own was shattered. 

There’s a strange warmth to the room though. People talk and vent to each other in an environment where they all seemed to look out for each other. Skye let herself enjoy that warmth as she leaned her elbows on the table, resting her chin on her hand as the others talked and smiled around her. 

Skye felt herself take a deep breath as the small group took turns talking. Minutes ticked by as a warm calmness settled against her, lulling her into a light daze as the group’s chatter became background noise. She wasn’t sure how much time passed before something rushed into her line of vision. Skye jumped at the sudden movement before looking up to see Ajay standing next to her placing a steaming cup in front of her. He doesn’t say anything as he took a seat beside her, sipping from his own cup. 

The two fell into a comfortable silence as Skye pulled the cup closer, allowing the steam to warm her face. 

Coffee.

The smell hit her as she drew the cup closer.

“How are you doing? With everything?”

Ajay asked over his cup. Ajay was a different beast then Rory. Rory wouldn’t push or prod, but Ajay went full big-brother mode when he thought Skye was upset about something and Bailey wasn’t around to use more gentle means of getting the information out of Skye.

Ajay was patient though. He’d let Skye sit in silence for however long she needed before she came up with the words that she wanted to express what was going on in her head. Ajay sipped his coffee in the now much quieter library. Skye can feel his eyes on her, but she avoided the gaze. There was no point lying to Ajay, he’d see through it almost as quickly as Bailey did.

The problem was, Skye wasn’t sure how to express what she felt. She didn’t know how to put the pain into words. The confusion this entire thing had caused her and the newfound fear that had infected her mind. Panic that came out without warning and numbness that took over and made her feel like death would be better than anything else.

How many times?

How many times did her friends have to tell her? How many times did Bailey have to tell her that Skye needed to talk to them when she was having trouble and they’d help her. They were there for her. And yet sitting in the almost empty library, Skye felt no more confident in talking to Ajay then she had the first time they met. Ajay seemed to notice the discomfort. After a few moments she re-worded the statement.

“If there’s something I can do, you need to let me know. We all want to help. It feels like you’re pushing us away again. We don’t want that, you’re our family and we want to help you.”

...family.

Ajay was always more of a brother to her then Brian ever was. 

Ajay wasn’t warm like Bailey or Rory, he was warm in a way that just made Skye feel like she wasn’t alone, that she had someone on her side. He had a similar warmth to Erin, a protective warmth. A warmth that also kept her grounded, much like the time Ajay talked her out of running away. 

The idea of running away looked so appealing now.

“Don’t make me go back there.”

It was quiet, a plea that Skye hoped Ajay would agree too. She really didn’t want to be anywhere near her parents tonight. Ajay got quiet, thinking it over. Skye felt his refusal coming, the insistence that Skye should go home because it was foolish to go anywhere else. The fake reassurance that Skye would be okay, it was better in her home then anywhere else.

“...It’s that bad, isn’t it?”

Skye’s grip on the cup tightened, the hot liquid inside threatening to spill over the edges. 

“My mom won’t stop yelling. And… I think my dad’s  _ enjoying _ the attention the company’s been getting with Brian’s death. He’s only annoyed it was Brian who died...and not…”

Skye trailed off, staring into the cup in front of her. She felt herself start to grow numb to the warmth radiating off the sides before Ajay’s voice cut through the silence.

“I’ll set something up for you.”

Skye turns to him as Ajay raised a hand to his chin, thinking.

“My mom has her boyfriend over, so that’s not a good idea. Trust me, Jim isn’t good for anyone’s mental health. Here, let me see what I can do.”

Ajay pulled out his phone and texted aggressively. Skye watched as he fumbled over a few messages, still a little clumsy texting as if he were an old man trying to figure out technology.

“My dad is seeing family for the week, so I couldn’t even run there if I wanted. I think Erin was going out of town too, but I bet-”

Ajay’s phone beeped and he smiled at the text that came through.

“Rory and Bailey's families were doing Thanksgiving together and they'd love to have us."

Ajay stood up and gathered Skye's crutches for her.

"They haven't had dessert yet so w-OOF"

Ajay was completely caught off guard when he felt Skye hug him. He almost dropped her crutches in surprise.

"Thank you."

The words are muttered into Ajay's light blue sweater. He hesitated a second before balancing the crutches in one hand while he wrapped an arm around Skye's shoulders lightly.

"You don't have to thank me, I wasn't going home either," Ajay patted the shorter girl's back, "come on, Bailey sent a lot of emojis which means she's gonna explode if she doesn't see you soon."

The promise of seeing Bailey almost took away the anxiety of having to go back into the car.

_ Almost. _

***

Bailey’s house is warm. Ajay and Skye found themselves immediately pulled into the small house before Ajay could even knock on the door. A clash of sweet and savory smells blend into a beautiful symphony as a familiar warmth settled in Skye's bones. Bailey’s at Skye’s side in an instant, greeting her with a soft kiss on her cheek and a smile that could brighten even the darkest crevices of Skye’s heart. 

“Hey,” Bailey’s voice is soft and gentle, she moves to quickly help Skye through the house as Mrs. Jenkins leads the kids to feed them.

“Hey,” Skye felt the smallest of smiles grace her face as she let herself enjoy the warmth Bailey carried with her. Within minutes Mrs. Jenkins has the two newcomers dragged into dining area and plates full of food are pushed in front of them. Skye hadn’t realized on hungry she really was until the first taste of food hit her tongue. 

When’s the last time she really  _ enjoyed _ a meal?

There’s no screaming, cursing, or slamming doors. Just laughter and chatter and really good food.

“Take it easy you two,” Rory called from across the table, “no one’s going to steal your plates. One of you is going to choke!”

Ajay and Skye only slightly back away from the plates regarding Rory for a moment before continuing to eat with gusto. Skye supposed Ajay skipped having dinner with his mother and his mother’s boyfriend, so that would be his excuse for eating like a starving animal.

Skye was just that hungry. It wasn’t her fault Mrs. and Mr. Jenkins were amazing cooks and their food was the best she’s eaten in weeks and she felt warm for the first time in weeks. In a way, she felt like an addict that had been deprived of this for so long. This warmth, this safety, this intoxicating feeling of tension leaving her body and being able to just exist in peace. The plates are scraped clean in under ten minutes.

"Well, there are two plates I don't have to wash later," Mr. Jenkins chuckled, "I was going to ask how everything tasted but I'm gonna go with great for everything."

"It was wonderful, thank you for having us at the last minute," Ajay politely pulled himself out of the food coma as he returned Mr. Jenkins smile.

"It's wonderful having you all here. I do hope you saved room for dessert."

The warmth is almost overwhelming. Its something Skye's been deprived of for so long, and having it back made her realize how temporary the feeling was. Eventually she'd have to go home. This was only a temporary break from the chaos.

The evening draws on and eventually the Silva's leave for the night. Mrs. Silva hugged Skye tightly on her way out.

"Let us know if you need anything, dear."

It's a sincere offer, but there's a feeling of doubt setting in Skye's stomach. She was beyond their help. 

The quiet that followed the Silva's exit was calming and deafening at the same time. Skye's knee started to ache, being away meant missing a dose of her pain killer. Her discomfort must have shown on her face because Bailey is next to her in a second.

"You okay?"

_ No. _

"My knee is a little sore, that's all."

Bailey's smile is so gentle. Without another word Bailey wordlessly goes over to fix the couch for Skye as her parents and brother clean up the kitchen. Skye set herself up long ways across the couch, propping her knee up to ease the ache. Bailey moved about the room, retrieving a blanket and setting it over Skye before sitting on the couch behind her. With a gentle tug, Skye felt herself lean back until she was laying on the couch with her head on Bailey's lap. 

"I'm glad you're here," Bailey's voice was soft as her fingers played with Skye's hair, "I was… well, I am really worried about you."

It was Skye's fault. She had been so wrapped up in her brother's funeral, the trial, and yelling at home that she hadn't answered any of Bailey's concerned texts or even spoke to her about what was going on.

"I'm sorry," Skye muttered back earnestly, "I should have been better about answering your texts. It's been… no so great since we came back."

"I can't imagine."

Skye closed her eyes, enjoying Bailey's warmth in silence for a few moments. The repetitive motion of her hand through Skye's hair was slowly lulling her to sleep.

"My mom isn't taking it well. One minute she's acting like she loves me, the next she's screaming about how everything is my fault. She gets these bad days where she'll lock herself in the wine cellar and wont even come out for my dad. My dad's trying to make Brian's death work in his favor, but I haven't really been paying attention to that."

"It's not your fault, you know that right?"

Skye felt her brows furrow for a moment as she opened her eyes, staring up into Bailey's bright green ones. 

"That's not what bothers me," Skye's voice came out quiet, "I don't miss him. I feel sorry for him, but I don't miss him. Him being gone just makes things harder. My parents can't ignore me now because I have to inherit the family business now. I think it's made them hate me more. I can't stand being around them anymore. I actually preferred being in the hospital were the only visitor I had to worry about was my cousin."

"Audrey?"

"Yeah, wait how do you know her name?"

"Oh, I meet her when you were in the hospital right after the accident."

Bailey's eyes went dark for a second and it hurt Skye to see the reminder of pain flash across Bailey's face.

"She let us go see you. She was also the reason I was delivering food when you came back," Bailey explained as she continued to play with Skye's hair, "She seemed oddly nice."

"Audrey always always has an agenda… she's the head of the family law firm and has a  _ reputation _ of getting her way when it comes to family cases."

"It she representing your parents in the trial, I heard the family of the older man who died hadn't dropped the charges and the trial was dragging out."

"No, my father wouldn't trust her to defend him. The lawyer defending the family works for her, so she's been overseeing him."

"I'm sorry everything's so stressful… I wish you didn't have to go back there."

Skye took a deep breath, closing her eyes and feeling the exhaustion hit her.

"Yeah"

***

_ “I can’t believe you made me come get you!” _

_ Brian’s voice boomed through the car as Skye leaned against the window, trying to ignore him.  _

_ “Why can’t you flip the breaker, it’s not that hard.” _

_ Brian scoffed at her as the two continued to bicker back and forth. _

_ “Why do I need to learn? I have people to do things for me, that’s how important people work. Important people have unimportant people do stuff for them. Guess which one you are?” _

_ “The one smart enough to know what a breaker is?” _

_ “Go to hell!” _

_ The light in front of them turns red and Brian let the car creep slowly towards the intersection impatiently. _

_ “Come on, come on, come on!” _

_ Brian looked left and right as if trying to figure out if he could make it across before any cars came by. The road is slightly crowded with people going to and from Halloween parties. Brian growled at the light. _

_ “I swear to god if you made me miss- FUCK” _

_ The car jerked forward when someone hit them from behind. Skye felt her body slam back into the passenger seat of the car. The two sat there for a moment trying to figure out what had happened. _

_ “Dad’s gonna kill me,” Brian whimpered as he glanced in the rearview mirror for a second to see someone stumble out of the driver’s seat of the car that had slammed into them. _

_ Then there’s headlights. Skye saw the white light fade her brother’s features for a moment, leaving him as nothing more than a silhouette before _

_ Nothing _

***

Skye didn't remember falling asleep, but the pain that shot through her knee was a nasty wake up call as a strangled voice left her throat. She sat up quickly, blinking in the darkness as she tried to grasp her bearings. Her heart was racing as she sat in a cold sweat for several seconds before she became away of the shifting behind her.

"Hey,"

Its Bailey.

The voice is followed by a light touch on her back. Skye jumped a bit before turning quickly, just barely able to make out Bailey's form in the darkness.

She must have woken Bailey up as she felt Bailey wrap her arms sleepily around Skye's shoulders. The pressure is grounding, attaching Skye to the present rather than the present. Bailey's head rests against her shoulder.

"It's okay."

_ No it's not. _

Skye felt her eyes burn as she leaned more into Bailey. The half-asleep girl held her tighter.

"It's okay… to not be okay."

***

Bailey clung to her all morning. It was clear the other girl didn't want Skye to have to go back and Skye tended to agree with her.

But the throbbing in her knee was a horrid reminder that she needed to take her pain killer. As much as she didn't want to leave Bailey's side, she knew she had overstayed her welcome. She couldn't continue to inconvenience the Jenkins family like this. Ajay offered to drive her home on his way back to his own home.

Bailey tugged at Skye's hand as Ajay readied to leave.

"If there's anything I can do-"

"Stop, you've done plenty. And I appreciate you letting me stay here for the night. I kinda want to check on my mom though."

Skye looked down at the confession, the image of her father's hand across her face flashed through her head.

"Despite everything, I'm worried about her."

Bailey gave a nod, not letting go of Skye's hand yet.

"I'll text you when I get home."

"And good-night."

"And good-night." 

Bailey smiled, seemingly pleased with that deal so far. Bailey took a step into Skye's space, pressing her lips softly to Skye's. The kiss is warm and soft and everything Skye doesn't want to leave. Skye wanted to prolong the feeling of warmth. As she felt Bailey pull away she leaned forward trying to prolong the sweet warmth. Bailey smiled against the kiss. Bailey pressed her lips firmer against Skye's for a few extra moments before the two pull away.

"If I don't hear from you I will infiltrate the Crandall mansion to snuggle you."

"Don't give me a reason to not text you."

Skye smiled, the first full genuine smile since the accident. Bailey seemed transfixed by it for a moment.

"You have a beautiful smile."

"Seems you like to remind me."

"I can't help it. My girlfriend is beautiful… and I fall for her a little more every day."

Bailey seemed a bit nervous, like there was something more she wanted to say.

"My mom's starting to freak… we should leave soon."

Ajay looked apologetic as he delivered the news. Skye only nodded before turning back to Bailey.

"My girlfriend's better, she's my light and I don't know what I'd do without her."

It's so soft and Bailey immediately blushes hard at Skye's words. She stuttered a bit before Skye pulled her into a quick kiss.

"I'll text you."

The promise was spoken with honest blue eyes that gazed into Bailey's with familiar warmth. They were still broken, but maybe starting to come together again. Bailey smiled as the two left, watching as Ajay's car pulled away and out of site.

***

Skye doesn’t text.

Bailey’s more hurt than anything for the first few minutes. Then she just feels panic at the possibility that something terrible happened. She pulled her jacket on and headed outside, fully intent on breaking Skye out of the Crandall mansion tonight if she had to. She marched half-way down the street when here cell phone pings with a message.

_ Skye: Hey, can I talk to you? _

_ Bailey: Is everything okay? _

_ Skye: Not really _

_ Skye: Can I hear your voice? _

_ Skye: Please? _

Bailey quickly taps on Skye’s contact icon. The phone only rings a few times before she hears the click of Skye picking up.

“Hey,”

Skye’s voice is horse and Bailey immediately grows more worried. 

“Hey, what’s going on? Did something happen?”

“Yeah,” Skye let out a sigh on the other line, “something happened… Can I see you?”

“Yeah, I was on my way to your house now, I got worried when I didn’t hear from you.”

“I’m not there,” Skye hesitated and Bailey stopped walking and stood still as she waited, “meet me on the beach? By the pier. Please.”

“I’ll be there in ten.”

Bailey ran towards the beach, she knew Skye’s favorite spot and her legs ran towards it effortlessly. Her heart hammered in her chest as the tone of Skye’s voice replayed in her head over and over. Something had happened. Bailey needed to get to her, the cool air cut into her lungs as she ran but she ignored the pain as she pushed her legs faster towards the familiar section of the beach.

Skye was already there, sitting with her back to Bailey at first, looking out into the ocean. When Bailey's footsteps drew closer, Skye looked up towards the noise. Skye told up shakily as Bailey came close, tugging the other girl into a hug wordlessly.

"Please don't hate me."

Bailey was slightly stunned by the words as she wrapped the other girl in her arms, holding her close.

"I could never hate you, what's going on?"

"... Something happened."

"What? What happened? Are you okay?"

"Here's what happened…"

_ Skye waved to Ajay as he pulled away with a regretful expression on his face. He didn't want to leave her there any more the Skye wanted to be there. Skye took a breath and opened the door. Her mother was in the kitchen, slouched over something on the island. _

_ "I'm home," Skye offered quietly as the woman looked up. _

_ "Take the meds and get out of my sight." _

_ The little paper cup is thrust at her before she can say anything else. Her mother looked strangely interested in the contents of the container. _

_ "Quickly, I don't have all day." _

_ Skye took the cup and was instantly given a glass of water too. That was odd, her mother never had her medications ready for her, but knowing how moody her mother had been acting, Skye didn't argue and instead took all the pills in the small cup like a shot, chasing them with water. _

_ "Thank you dear," _

_ Her mother's tone is strange, almost too happy. The smile disappears when the door swings open and slammed shut. Mr. Crandall entered the room like a man on a mission, quickly honing in on Skye. _

_ "You. Car. Now." _

_ Skye moved with no hesitation, frightened by her father's serious tone. If there was anything worse then her mother’s moodiness since the accident, it was her father’s temper. _

_ "Roger, what's going on?" _

_ "That bastard lawyer is demanding a psych evaluation or they'll have her testimony thrown away and we'll have to pay those pathetic whining mice for the old man's funeral. Do you have any idea how much this damn case is costing me?" Mr. Crandall turned to Skye, who on her crutches simply wasn't moving fast enough, "move!" _

_ Skye doesn't really remember the car ride, except for the fact that it was completely silent. Skye felt herself shake a bit the faintest feeling of nausea starting to come over her. She shook it off as fear as the car pulled into a handicap spot in front of the building. Roger must have noticed the look on his daughter’s face, because she could hear him scoff. Nothing was against the law for Roger Crandall, things just cost a little bit to have the privilege of doing. _

_ This was a newer law office, It had the Crandall name on the sign, so Skye knew it had to belong to someone who worked for Audrey. She recalled Audrey saying something about one of her subordinates representing the family that was suing the Crandalls. This case had been going on since the accident happened. It was sad in a way. They were only trying to go at them because they were rich, because out of everyone affected by the accident, they were the ones who would still be standing at the end without large bills that they couldn’t handle. The other two families were probably swapped with high medical bills. That particular family now had funeral costs to pay.  _

_ Brian’s death didn’t get them much sympathy, much to her father’s anger. He tried so hard to use Brian as a means of getting the families to drop their lawsuits. Skye felt a slight satisfaction that it didn’t work, that there were some things her father couldn’t buy. _

_ "Mr. Crandall, wonderful to see you back so soon." _

_ Audrey's voice was cold and professional, it seemed to only anger Mr. Crandall more. _

_ "Do your damn psych evaluation, then you can leave my family alone." _

_ He’s trying to play victim. Skye was too familiar with the tone. She blinked a few times as she continued to shake, she must be more tired than she thought. Her vision got a little blurry and she shook her head to clear it. Maybe the stairs were too much on her muscles, or maybe because she hadn’t eaten enough before taking her medications.  _

_ "My family too Mr. Crandall, and I'd hate to see my family make such a fatal mistake of being hasty." _

_ A smirk starts to form on Audrey’s face. She had something, and if Audrey was helping the young man representing one of the families, then Skye knew her father was in for a rough time. Audrey seemed to almost enjoy giving her father a hard time, more revenge maybe for everything the Crandall name had done to her.  _

_ "Miss. Crandall, if you'll come with me, our psychologist is ready to see you." The young man stated as he moved to open the door. He looked just as stunned by the cold war style stand-off going on in the small room between Mr. Crandall and Audrey. Skye looked over to the only two familiar faces in the room, her father didn't even look at her. She had no idea what was going on, she knew her father said it earlier, but now she just feels a bit confused. She can’t seem to remember why her father dragged her here in the first place. The nausea feeling hasn’t stopped and she doesn’t really want to go with this unfamiliar face that’s trying to guide her out the door. _

_ "Don't worry," its Audrey who picked up on the silence and ended the staring contest to turn her attention to Skye, "she's just going to ask you a few questions. Answer honestly and we'll meet you when it's over." _

_ Skye nodded and followed the other lawyer out and down the hall. He looks fresh out of law school, wearing a very nicely pressed suite that wasn’t quiet as expensive as her fathers. He also wore less gold in terms of cuffs or an expensive watch that Skye could see. _

_ “Austin Chase, I’m new at your cousin’s firm. It’s nice to meet you.” _

_ The young man flashed a friendly smile that Skye didn’t return. He clearned his throat before turning back to face the hallway. They walked in silence until they reached the office of the psychologist that worked for the law office. Skye doesn’t remember the name on the door, but she supposed it made sense for Audrey to make sure her law offices had deals with local professionals that could help her cases.  _

_ "Miss. Crandall, lovely to meet you, please take a seat." _

_ The office was bright with white light, warm wood tones were featured on the desk and several accenting decorations. The questions start rolling, but Skye can't remember any of them as she felt herself start to grow uncomfortably warm, a strange lightheartedness tried to lull her to uncomfortable sleep. She moved rather clunkily to sit on the large comfortable couch. _

_ "Are you well, Miss. Crandall? Can I get you some water?” _

_ The woman is nice, Skye only nodded and within a few seconds, there was a paper cup sitting in front of her with cool water. Skye took a few sips, hoping the water would stop the nausea at the very least. The coolness did little to actually cool her as her skin grew uncomfortably warm. _

_ “I want to start by saying how sorry I am about what happened. I’m sure it hasn’t been easy. Why don’t we start with something easy? Can you tell me if you remember anything from the accident?” _

_ “I remember it,” Skye stated as she tried to focus on the woman in front of her. The therapist was on the younger side, maybe in her thirties, dark hair, dark eyes, a bit of an accent that Skye couldn’t place, “I told the police after I woke up what happened.” _

_ The woman makes a few notes. Had she told Skye her name? Skye couldn’t remember. _

_ “It says here you haven’t seen any psychological professional since the accident? Am I the first person you’ve talked to regarding the accident?” _

_ “I guess, professionally anyway.” _

_ “Do you speak to your parents?” _

_ “... No, they don’t like to talk about it,” Skye looked down into the empty cup, her vision blurred at the corners. She blinked several times to try and stop it. _

_ “Do you have any difficulty sleeping?” _

_ “... Sometimes, I have dreams of the accident a lot. I usually wake up after we get hit.”  _

_ “I see,” more pencil on paper, “Do you get nervous being in the car?” _

_ “I don’t really like to now. Sometimes it doesn’t bother me, but sometimes it does. It doesn’t bother me when I’m in the car with my dad but when I’m driving with my friends it starts to bother me.” _

_ More scratching of pen and paper. Her vision starts to blur and realization hit her that this might not be stress related. Black dots cloud her vision as the tried to focus on something in the room that wasn’t currently spinning. _

_ “How does it feel when you’re in the car with your friends?” _

_ Skye doesn't remember answering, she does remember the darkness. _

_ *** _

"When I woke up, I was back in the hospital. Audrey explained to me that my mom had swapped out my pain killers for some Brian used to take for his shoulder during baseball seasons."

Bailey's arms wrapped tighter around Skye, not wanting to ever let the girl out of her arms now. She didn't think it was possible to get more disgusted with the Crandall family, yet here they were.

"Audrey made me an offer," Skye pulled her head away from Bailey's shoulder, but wouldn't move too far away, "that she'd keep my parents from sending me to the psych ward if I retracted my testimony that Brian was rear ended before going into the intersection."

"Why would they-"

"Because my mom panicked and said I had done it on purpose. That I’m unstable and need to be locked up like a mental patient. She didn't know my dad was taking me out of the house, otherwise I would have blacked out at home. Audrey put an end to that… but there's one more issue…"

Skye’s silent for a few moments, as if she really didn’t want to say the next part.

“In order to make sure my parents never do something like this again… Audrey petitioned for custody, so I’d have to go with her after the trial once she leaves Cedar Cove.”

Bailey felt her heart sink and dread start to fill her. Skye doesn’t meet her eyes. Her hauntingly beautiful dark blue eyes stayed focused on the sand rather than Bailey. She held the other girl impossibly closer, not ready to accept the reality that was thrown at her.

“Maybe we can talk to her, maybe we can work something else out,” Bailey offered, desperation dripping into her voice. Skye doesn’t look at her, she didn’t move the slightest at Bailey’s voice.

“...I don’t think there’s another way,” Skye closed her eyes as if she’d come to terms with something, “I can’t go back with my parents, I can’t just bum off you or Rory or Ajay until graduation. It’s not fair to any of you.”

“So, that’s it? You’re not going to try to stay here?”

“...I can’t stay here.” 

The statement is so quiet that Bailey almost missed it. Bailey could hear the pain clear in Skye’s voice. She wanted to argue with her. Tell her that they could make it work. Tell her that they’d find a way to keep Skye in Cedar Cove with everyone else. 

But there was also a more rational side of Bailey’s mind that wondered if that was the best thing for Skye. Skye had been through too much in the last few months. She’d watched her brother die, she’d faced death head on herself, she lived with physical therapy appointments and parents that were constantly on edge. Some things would heal. Her knee would slowly get to the point where she wouldn’t need a brace. The scar on her forehead just above her eyebrow would fade. But… looking into Skye’s blue eyes, Bailey couldn’t find the strength to argue with her anymore. The girl was hurting more than Bailey could comprehend.

If she left, it would mean a completely clean slate for her. The kind of freedom Skye dreamed about. The kind of freedom she fantasized about. Bailey wanted her so badly to have that. 

“What about us?”

Bailey’s voice is almost too quiet. She’s surprised that Skye can even hear her but the confirmation came in Skye opening her mouth to answer only for no sound to come out. Her jaw twitched as she snapped it closed, a tremor shook her small frame for a second as if a new fear gripped her.

“I want you to have everything you want. I want you to have someone to take you out on dates and to homecoming and to prom. I don’t want you to miss out on things just because I’m not here.”

Bailey opens her mouth to assure Skye that wasn’t the case. She was cut off when Skye moved back, putting distance between them. It’s only then that Bailey fully noticed the brace on her knee that had replaced the cast she had hours ago. Skye walked awkwardly on it, as if she wasn’t used to putting weight on that side.

“You’re better off finding someone who can give you everything you deserve.”

The ice cold panic sets in Bailey’s bones once she realized where the conversation was going.

“You’re better off without m-”

“No. That’s isn’t going to happen.”

“Bailey,” Skye’s voice got firm for a second, a familiar hum of frustration as she tried to force the rest of the words out. When she looked up at Bailey the pain in her eyes was clear as tears threatened to fall down her face, “I’m not okay. I can’t be that person right now. I want you to be happy,”

“I’m happy with you. I always will be.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because I love you! You moron!” Bailey snapped, a mix of terror and stress filled her voice. “I love you and I’m not going to give up on you or on us. Understand?”

Skye stood in silence. Bailey could only watch as tears ran down her face. The tension between them seemed to dissolve as Bailey gently pulled Skye closer and wordlessly wrapped her arms around her. Skye doesn’t fight it and after a moment Bailey could feel Skye fully slump into her, arms wrapped tightly around her and she could feel Skye holding onto her for dear life. Cool tears hit Bailey’s neck as the wind picked up around them.

“I love you,” Bailey murmured softly as Skye’s arms tightened around her. It felt like the shorter girl was trying to express those words, unable to say them as her tattered soul clung to Bailey to keep from shattering completely.

Bailey felt Skye shift against her. They shifted ever so slightly so their eyes could meet in the evening air. Bailey felt her eyes burn as she looked into Skye’s. Those blue eyes were ripped at every edge, yet Bailey could feel the warmth that was reforming in their depths. The smallest spark of familiar light that Bailey has not seen since the accident. The feeling is almost too much. Bailey pushed forward, resting her forehead against Skye’s and shutting her eyes as her hand came up to tangle in Skye’s long red hair against the back of her head as if to hold them there in time. Willing it not to move forward and separate them. A fruitless attempt that left wet streaks running down Bailey’s face as she choked on the cool air around them.

“...I love you too.”

Skye choked on the words, emotion leaving her throat raw as they held each other impossibly closer, trying to avoid time as it ticked around them. 

It kept ticking, but they wanted to hold on to that moment until they couldn’t anymore. Until the cold became unbearable or someone found them in on the cool beach. Until then they would bathe in each other's presence and choked words that held nothing but love.


	6. And If You're In Love, You Are The Lucky One

**Five Years Later**

There was a flower shop two blocks from campus that Bailey loved to drop into on her way to her apartment from campus. They had the most beautiful flowers decorating the window each time she passed. A particularly beautiful set of daisies caught her attention and after s moment of consideration, Bailey slipped into the small shop, the bell rang overhead to signal her presence.

Bailey looked through the rows of flowers set up in pre-created bouquets for a few moments before she settled on a bright white set on the end. The flowers looked like they had just gone into bloom and Bailey knew they would look perfect.

San Francisco had been her home for over a year now. Her last years of high school were spent in a strange blended state of anxiety and determination. Skye had moved out of Oregon with her cousin as soon as the hellish trial ended. Things got hard after that. Skye had a hard time adjusting to the point where Bailey started to hear from her less and less. It hurt Bailey to be so powerless. 

Bailey paid for her flowers and headed out the door. She turned the corner and walked down the street to the cemetery, flowers in hand. Skye’s entire mental state went downhill after the move. It was too much too fast. Too many things changing at one time for her to handle. The phone calls and Skype dates got fewer and far between as the grief of everything hit the redhead like a truck.

The cemetery was quiet and peaceful. It looked like the landscaper had already gone through and placed fresh flowers on the graves and cleaned up any dead leaves left over from the last autumn fall. Gravestones stood tall and short. Some were decorated with crosses or angles while others were far more simple. Bailey always felt a little uneasy walking through, it always felt a little colder and just a bit uncomfortable. 

Bailey glanced over the stones, reading the names as she walked through, holding the flowers close to her chest. She finally gets to her destination and lets out a sigh before swinging the gate open and leaving the cemetery, closing the gate behind her. She hated that route, but it was quicker to cut through there to get to her apartment.

Bailey relaxed as she entered the building and hopped up the steps. It wasn’t uncommon for students to reside in most of the apartments that surrounded the small college town. Bailey had fallen in love with this particular apartment when she came to tour it. It was close to the community theatre and within walking distance of campus. It wasn’t big by any stretch of the imagination, but it was cozy and held a homey feel as she decorated it and set it up. 

Bailey walked through the door and kicked off her shoes at the entrance. The small apartment was coated in a clean grey paint and hardwood floors. The kitchen was nice, granite countertops and a subway tile backsplash. Bailey fished a vase out from one of the cabinets and set up the flowers on the counter of the kitchen before moving over to the small living area. The coffee table was covered in papers and essays. 

Baily flopped down on the couch. She reached for the remote and turned on the TV to allow some soft noise to fill the apartment. She’d have to get up and make dinner soon. She pondered what she should make. She had some pasta she bought over the weekend and some stuff to make a nice fresh marinara sauce…

Bailey nearly jumped out of her skin as she felt someone wrap their arms around her shoulders from behind the couch.

“Hey,”

Bailey relaxed for a second before reaching up to place a hand over the other occupant’s wrist.

“You scared me!”

Bailey shook her head as the faint smell of roses engulfed her, damp hair fell against her cheek as her “attacker” shifted to press a kiss against her cheek.

“How was class?” The voice settled close by Bailey's ear as the person leaned forward to snuggle as close to Bailey as possible.

“Boring, I really hate lectures. I was gonna make dinner in a few minutes. Come sit with me like a normal person.”

“I’m not a normal person,” the attacker snorted as Bailey felt arms unravel from her shoulders a moment before the slight pitter patter of feet against hardwood moved around the couch and her companion fell onto the couch next to her, red hair slightly damp from what Bailey assumed was a shower. “Want help with dinner?”

Bailey beamed over at the other girl taking in the slightly tired expression on her face. She had one of her hands-on classes today, part of her architectural engineering track probably. Bailey couldn’t remember the name of the class. It was Wednesday, so she had probably gone to the dojo as well after class.

“I can do it, you look tired. Rough day in class?”

“No, it's a striking week. I always sweat more in those classes then during Jiu Jitsu week.” 

Martial arts was supposed to help relieve stress, but in her red-haired companion’s case, it was also supposed to help with her confidence. Bailey could certainly see that it helped. It was something to do to blow off steam and help the other girl feel more comfortable in her own skin.

Bailey nodded and moved her hand to move some of the damp hair out of her companion’s face.

“Then you rest, I can make dinner. Besides, I fully expect you to fight someone off me if I ever get attacked so I need you in tip top shape.”

Bailey leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the other girl’s nose before standing up and heading towards the kitchen.

“Hey Skye?”

There’s a hum in reply.

“I love you.”

Bailey waited a few moments standing in the kitchen until she heard the soft reply.

“I love you too.”

Bailey smiled at the reply as she turned to the kitchen. The sounds of the TV softly filled the apartment as Bailey pulled out her ingredients and went through the motions of making dinner. Skye had switched the station to some documentary about the world’s most haunted places, spooky music played and Bailey shook her head as she cooked.

College was a different beast than high school. Skye and herself were different people, but they still managed to support each other and care for each other. Bailey smiled as she stirred the sauce, the light fragrance filling the apartment with a hint of garlic and tomato. The meal is almost finished when she hears Skye move across the kitchen, pulling the necessary dishes and utensils from the kitchen and setting the table.

After the rustling of the dishes, Bailey heard Skye move across the apartment and towards the large fish tank set up by the corner. It was a housewarming gift from Audrey: a fifteen gallon tank complete with a gorgeous dark blue beta. Her explanation was that she had Skye look after her aquarium while Skye was settling in, the added responsibility had helped keep Skye’s mind off more serious things.

Some more footsteps before Bailey felt arms wrap around her waist from behind. Bailey giggled when she felt a kiss press to the back of her neck.

“Nooo, don’t distract me, something will burn.”

Skye didn't pull away, opting instead to rest her chin on Bailey’s shoulder.

“Cook faster.”

Bailey laughed and turned her head to press a kiss onto the slightly shorter girl’s temple.

“So impatient. It’s almost done, can you get the colander for the pasta?” 

Skye hummed and pulled away, Bailey heard the shuffle of things in the cabinet as she turned the heat off and carefully moved the pot over to the sink where Skye had set up the colander while Skye fetched a serving bowl from a different drawer.

As Skye set the bowl onto the counter, Bailey grinned reaching over and placing her hands on the sides of Skye’s face before she pulled her into a sudden kiss. 

“You’re amazing, you know that?”

Skye tilted her head slightly with a dreamy little smile on her face.

“Hmm, I’ve been told once or twice.”

Bailey smiled and pulled Skye close for another soft kiss, basking in the warmth of Skye’s lips on hers before she pulled away slowly. She felt Skye rest her forehead against hers for a few moments before she remembered the sauce still on the stove.

“Oh, sauce!” Bailey pulled away to grab the pot off the stove while she heard Skye giggle lightly as she moved the pasta to the table and went to retrieve another serving container for the sauce.

Bailey catches it before it burned and turned back to watch as Skye moved the rest of the meal onto the table. Bailey smiled at the peacefulness of it all. She wanted to live in these moments forever.

“Hey Bailey?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”


End file.
